


Marine Biology

by starcut_sand



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alvin Marsh is His Own Warning, Mermaid Eddie, Multi, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, discussions of mermaid culture, mermaid au, there are other characters there but they aren't that important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23018047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starcut_sand/pseuds/starcut_sand
Summary: Eddie runs away from home and gets caught in a sea storm. It would be dumb to save the human that's caught with him- he's a total deadweight, plus his glasses keep falling off. Besides, Eddie's mom always said that humans would lock him up and put him in an exhibit if he got too close....Well, what does his mom know anyway, right?
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 196
Kudos: 257





	1. Shipwreck

Beverly’s tail trailed behind her like a ghost, illuminated by the light that filtered through the water. Her fins rippled in the tide, and her scales glittered blue-pink-green in the light. She looked like she was wearing a human’s wedding gown, Eddie thought, but he didn’t tell her that.

“Seriously, Bev, how much further?” was what he said instead, and she twisted around to make a face at him.

“Be patient,” she said. “It’s gonna be worth it. It’s--”

“Almost completely intact, I know,” Eddie finished, rolling his eyes. She stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m just saying, we’re pretty far out.”

“Like we can’t take care of ourselves,” Beverly said.

“I’m tired.”

“Well, we’re almost there. Stop whining, Kaspbrak.”

Really, Eddie was excited about a new sunken wreck. He and Bev had thought they’d explored every one in the area. He loved having something that was just his and Bev’s, something that other people weren’t around for and so couldn’t give them the usual uncomfortable glances.

Still, his mom would kill him if he swam out too far from town. The system of caves was far behind them, and there was just rock formations and the empty blue around them. It made him feel small.

“There!” Bev pulled to a stop in front of him, pointing triumphantly. He followed her gaze: it was a ship, on the bigger side, white and glinting in the light. There was a stripe on the side with some strange human word painted onto it.

“Whoa,” Eddie breathed. Tiredness forgotten, he darted towards the wreck.

“Wait for me!” Bev called behind him, and he slowed down a bit. “Swim faster!” he called over his shoulder.

“You know my tail’s not as fast as yours!” Bev called back, just as Eddie reached the wreck. He drew himself up in front of it, running his hands over the strange human letters.

“What do you think it says?” Bev said, drifting up behind him.

“It’s probably the name,” Eddie said. “They name their boats, don’t they?”

“I’m pretty sure,” Bev said.

“What’s inside?”

“I haven’t looked,” Bev said. “I wanted to wait until you were here.”

Eddie smiled at her, warmth pooling inside his stomach. “Let’s find out, then.”

She gestured to the hole smashed in the bottom of the boat. “After you.”

* * *

The inside of the boat was much darker than the outside. The tips of Eddie’s tailfins glowed pink to light the way, and Bev stuck close to his side.

“Oooh, look,” she said softly, darting forwards and grabbing a coat off of a hook on the wall. “Do you think this is my color?”

“I dunno, that’s your thing,” Eddie said. “Is it?”

Beverly hummed, eyeing the coat critically. “I think I could make it work.” She stuffed it in the bag she’d brought along. The bag itself had been a find from one of the other shipwrecks they’d visited. Eddie had one much like it, where if you tugged on the strings the mouth would close up. The difference was that his was mostly filled with little mechanical things, gears and buttons and the like, and hers was mostly full of human clothes and jewelry.

“I want to find another top while we’re here,” Beverly said. “I mean, this one is nice--” she gestured to the one she was wearing, a little dark blue vest buttoned up the front-- “But fabric doesn’t hold well in water. Sooner or later I’ll need another one.”

“What if everyone on this boat had horrible fashion sense?” Eddie teased. Beverly rolled her eyes at him. “C’mon, let’s keep going.”

He gave her a two-fingered salute and swam forward, down the hallway.

The room the hallway led into was small, and it had the steering wheel in it, much to Eddie’s delight. He loved the control rooms, they always had the most interesting stuff. In his opinion, anyway.

“Oh, look at this,” Beverly said from behind him, and he turned. She was floating just inside the doorway, where a necklace hung on a hook. It was plainer than most of the other necklaces she’d found. It was just a black cord with a little golden thing stuck to the end.

He swam closer, intrigued. “It looks like a gear,” he said. Beverly gave him a strange look.

“How could it be a gear? Gears have to be circles.”

“Yeah, I know,” Eddie said, running his thumb over the bumpy edge. His eyes widened. “Oh! It’s a key!”

“Really?” Bev said, unconvinced. “It doesn’t look like any key I’ve ever seen before.”

“They make things out of different stuff up there,” Eddie said, twisting around to examine the control panel. Next to the steering wheel was a promising-looking circle. “Look,” he said, poking the key at the hole. It slid in like it was made for it.

“Huh,” Beverly said. “Well, why would they put a key on a necklace?”

Eddie shrugged. “Maybe just to hang it on the wall?”

“Maybe,” Bev said, taking it and sliding it over her head. “Seems like a waste of perfectly good jewelry to me.”

“I bet they need it to make the boat run,” Eddie said, poking his head under the control panel to look at the wires. “I bet it’s like their magic words.”

“Pretty bad magic words, though, if it sank.”

“Shut up.”

Eddie squinted in the half-light at the wiring and buttons. “Do you think it means something that some of them are different colors than others?”

“Maybe it just looks nice,” Bev called. She’d drifted into another room.

“It really doesn’t, though,” Eddie said. “It just looks like a tangled mess. Maybe each color does different things. Like a different ingredient.”

Bev didn’t respond. She’d probably found a bedroom or something, with clothes in it. Eddie tugged on one of the wires, jumping when it buzzed and lit up at the end. “Whoa,” he whispered. Then louder, “Bev, come look at this!”

Bev didn’t respond.

Eddie poked his head out from the controls. “Bev?”

“In here,” her voice called. Something about it sounded… off. Frowning to himself, Eddie swam back into the hallway, peeking into the different rooms as he passed to find her. “Bev?”

“Here,” she called, closer this time. He pushed open a door on his left. There she was, floating close to the floor, her back to him. Her hair and tail drifted lazily in the current.

He swam closer. “Bev, what’s--”

He stopped talking as he realized what she was looking at. A sharp symbol etched into the wall. Two curling tail fins, pointed and sharp at the end. The mark of a successful hunt.

“Sirens did this,” Beverly said. “That explains… there’s no bodies.”

Eddie bit his lip, putting a hand on her shoulder. What could he say? She was probably right.

“You’re not like that,” Eddie said. “You’d never hurt innocent people.”

Beverly didn’t say anything.

“Bev,” Eddie said. “You didn’t do this.”

“My people did,” she said, not looking at him. “My mother’s people. How can I ever be proud--” she stopped.

Eddie frowned. He felt totally helpless. He knew exactly how Beverly was feeling, but he had no idea how to cheer her up.

“You can be proud of who _you_ are,” he said finally. “Not who they are.”

“But what if we’re not that different?” Beverly whispered. “They’re sirens, but so am I.”

“Do you think I’m the same as my mom?”

“That’s different,” Beverly said. “There are good sea witches--”

“And there are good sirens,” Eddie said. “Just because you’re living with a bunch of dumb mermaids who’ve never met a siren in their life-- there are good people and bad people. No matter what kind of creature they are.”

Beverly nodded shakily and waved a hand in front of her face, moving away the hot tears. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just-- you know. It’s hard.”

“I know,” Eddie said. “Do you wanna go home?”

“Not _home,_ maybe,” Bev said. “But… yeah. Let’s go back.”

* * *

Pela’sogles was a town full of knobby, towering rocks covered in blue and green bioluminescence. Even from a distance, you could see the lights shining as you approached, stretching up and down each cave structure. It took getting closer to see the people flitting between, carrying food or helping babies swim in wobbly paths through the currents. Then, once you were inside, the rocks stretched wide and round, obscuring other paths from view. It could be hard to navigate-- unless you were Eddie, in which case it wasn’t hard at all. He had what his dad had always called an internal compass.

He and Bev were busy weaving through the structures, with him leading and her trailing behind.

“No, I swear, Bev, it lit up, it was like, sparkly and orange--”

“Bullshit,” Bev said. “Humans don’t even have magic.”

“No, yeah, I _know,_ but what if they created their own?” Eddie said, drawing up closer to her. “I mean, we know they’re smart, they can create structures that float on top of water and move on their own--”

“Yeah, but created magic?” Bev wrinkled her nose. “That’s, like, an oxymoron.”

Eddie opened his mouth to reply, but shut it just as fast when he noticed the figures lurking behind Bev. He glared over her shoulder. “Hi, Henry.”

“Kaspbrak,” Henry Bowers said, as Bev whirled around to face him. “And _Beverly._ How’re _you_ doing?” He drifted into the light, his friends trailing behind him.

Bev wrinkled her nose. “Get lost,” she said.

“How about no? C’mon, Beverly, you can do better than the town’s _witch._ ” He drifted closer, and Bev drifted back. Eddie swam in front of her, blocking her off from Henry’s view.

“She said get lost, Henry,” Eddie said. “Or else we’ll make you.”

“What, are you trying to scare us, Kaspbrak?” Henry said. “Your mom might be crazy, but your dad was just a little coastal. And everyone knows you got the worst of each.” he gestured to Eddie’s plain green tail.

Despite himself, Eddie flushed red. He happened to _like_ his tail. It wasn’t showy like Bev’s or strong like Henry’s, but it reminded him of his dad’s, save for the pink tips. Though, the pink tips weren’t doing him any favors either. Biofluorescent marks were almost always the mark of a sea witch, and sea witches would never be considered attractive.

“Please, like Eddie couldn’t take you down whenever he wanted,” Bev said, drawing up beside Eddie. “So could I, actually. Or did you somehow learn magic when nobody was looking?”

“Shut up, siren,” Victor said. “No one’s listening to what _you_ have to say.”

“We all know you only listen to the sound of your own voice,” Eddie said. “Let’s go, Bev.”

He made as if to swim past them, but Henry moved in front of him. “You’re not going anywhere, _ner’estes._ ”

Eddie drew to a stop. Lots of words bounced around in his head, but he didn’t say anything. If he snapped back, Henry would just see it as an invitation. If he tried to use magic, everyone in Pela’sogles would trust him even less than they already did.

Henry moved forward. Eddie inched away, trying to think.

A rock sailed out of the blue and hit Henry in the head.

Eddie blinked in surprise as Henry whirled around. He hadn’t thrown that. Beverly _definitely_ hadn’t, because sirens couldn’t do silent spells. In theory, Eddie could, but in practice? Not really.

“Fuck off, Buh-Bowers,” a familiar voice said. Eddie and Bev shared a delighted glance. _Bill._

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, great, it’s Buh-Buh-Bill.”

Henry turned around to face Bill, who straightened up with a determined look on his face. Eddie could have kissed him right then. Bill was always the bravest, the first to dive into danger if someone was in trouble. When he was younger, Eddie’d had a bit of a crush on him. Now, it had mellowed out to a deep affection. You could always count on Bill to have your back.

“Well,” Henry started, but he was cut off by another rock hitting him straight in the head.

“Nice shot,” Eddie murmured to Bev. She nodded without taking her eyes off Henry. “Thanks.” Then, louder, “He said-- fuck-- off.”

“Fuck you, bitch!” Belch Huggins said, and lunged forward. Eddie shunted his bag off his back and swung it at him like a mallet, knocking him off course. “Time to go.”

“Yup,” Bev said. Eddie grabbed her arm and darted around the trio, giving a wide berth to Victor Criss who hadn’t been hit at all and was less preoccupied with nursing his wounds. Bill waited for them on the other side, then started swimming alongside them.

“You can’t swim forever!” Henry’s voice shouted from behind them. “Little shits!”

Bev glanced over her shoulder. “They’re not following.”

“Cowards,” Bill said. “Are you oh-okay?”

“We’re fine,” Bev said. “Thanks.”

Bill shrugged, a small smile on his face. He never seemed to know how to act around Bev since the two of them had broken up. It wasn’t that it was always awkward-- there would just be little moments like this, where he didn’t seem completely sure what was okay anymore.

“I should go,” Eddie said. “My mom will freak out if I’m any later.”

“Right,” Bill said, snapping out of his Beverly trance. “I nuh-nuh-nuh-- _have_ to go babysit Georgie anyway.”

“I guess I’ll go too then,” Bev said, looking kind of disappointed. She always did, when she had to go home. Eddie bit his lip.

“Yuh-you could come babysit with me, if you want,” Bill said. Bev’s eyes lit up.

“Hell yeah.”

“Don’t swear in front of him this time though.”

Eddie snorted, backing away from them. “I’ll see you guys later, then,” he said, trying not to sound too disappointed.

“You too,” Bill and Bev chorused, and Eddie turned around and swam for home.

* * *

Eddie and his mom lived on the outskirts of Pela’sogles, in a cave that was too big for them now that his dad was gone. Still, his mom insisted on staying there. Eddie knew better than to ask why.

He tried to swim with small movements, so as not to affect the waters around him. He must have stirred things too much, because he heard his mom call from her spell room.

“Eddie, is that you?”

He closed his eyes and sighed quietly. “Yeah, mom, it’s me,” he called back. He tried swimming past the spell room and towards his bedroom, but no luck.

“Eddie, come here.”

Reluctantly, he turned back and swam to the entryway of the spell room. “Yeah?” he said, hovering in the doorway.

His mom glanced up at him from where she was perched over her counter of ingredients. “Where have you been all day?”

Eddie fingered the knot of his bag’s rope. “I went out with Bev,” he said. “Just swimming around.”

His mom frowned. “You know I don’t like that girl,” she said. “She’s a _siren,_ sweetie.”

“Yeah, but she’s not like that,” Eddie began. They’d had this conversation thousands of times.

“She’s not _like us,_ ” his mom said, speaking over him. “Sirens use their magic to _take._ She’s using you, Eddie, and I don’t like it.”

“She’s not using me,” Eddie said. “She doesn’t use her magic at all.”

“That’s what everybody thinks!” his mom said. “They always think they’re perfectly sane, that they’ve got control of the situation, until finally the siren snaps and there’s not even a skeleton left! She’ll tear you limb from limb, Eddie, I don’t want you going out alone with her.”

“Bev wouldn’t do that. She’s my best friend.”

“I said, I don’t want you being around her.”

“Mom--”

“Eddie.” Eddie’s mom looked close to tears. “Sweetie. Don’t you see how other people look at us in this town? You know what people think of sea witches. All we have is each other. If I lost you because I wasn’t able to protect you, I wouldn’t have anything to live for anymore.”

People only look at us like that because of what you’ve done, Eddie wanted to say, but the words lodged in his throat. He knew that, on some level, she was right. Nobody trusted them because they were sea witches, and it wouldn’t matter if his mom was the nicest person on earth.

“I know, mommy,” he whispered.

His mom sighed. “I know you know. But I still worry. That’s my job, sweetie.” She turned back to her ingredients, grabbing a bowl of clams. His favorite. She handed the bowl to him. “You haven’t eaten, have you?”

“No,” Eddie said, and smiled at her. He had clams in his bag, too, but it was nice that she’d remembered. 

His mom smiled back at him. “What did you do today, sweetie?”

“Um,” Eddie said. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to go out to the shipwrecks. His mom hated humans about as much as she hated everyone else in their town. “Not much.”

She frowned at him. _Please buy it, please buy it,_ Eddie chanted in his mind.

“What’s in your bag?” she asked finally.

“Not much,” Eddie said again. “Um, I found a new rock that I thought would be nice to use in a spell.”

“I don’t like you doing spells without supervision,” his mom said immediately. “You’re still a child. Children make lots of mistakes when it comes to these things. You could blow yourself up, or turn your blood to poison…” she trailed off, letting him fill in the blanks.

“I won’t,” Eddie said, gritting his teeth. He avoided her gaze by sorting through the bowl of clams, looking for one that looked the best to eat.

“And you’re sure you didn’t go out to those shipwrecks again?” his mom said.

“I told you I wouldn’t,” Eddie said, shoulders tense. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. 

“But did you?”

Eddie stared down at his bowl of clams. “Mom, there’s pearl dust in this,” he said, instead of answering her question.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I made it myself,” she said. “And don’t avoid the question. Did you or didn’t you?”

“I’m not being ridiculous, there’s pearl dust in this,” Eddie said. He set the bowl down hard on the counter. “You really can’t do anything nice for anyone, can you?”

She stilled. “Excuse me?”

Eddie didn’t say anything.

“I can’t believe-- I’m your mother-- that girl really has been driving you mad,” she said, face crumpling. “Do you really think I would try to enchant you?”

“You’ve tried before,” Eddie said.

“I would never do that,” his mom said. “ _Never._ Poison my own baby, the only family I’ve got left--”

“I’m not a baby!” Eddie said. “And you _have_ tried before, and every time you pretend like it never happened, and I’m _sick_ of it.” he could feel his eyes stinging. This was _such_ a perfect end to a great day.

“I’ve only ever tried to help you,” his mom said. “Eddie, please, you have to see that she’s twisting your mind with these _lies,_ making you think humans are good, that you can’t trust your own mother! I’m trying to help you!”

“You’ve never helped me once in my life,” Eddie said, voice cracking. He could feel hot tears on his face. “And I’m not going to sit around waiting for you to drug me again.”

He turned, but before he could swim for the entryway, he felt the hot tug of magic around his waist stopping him. He twisted, glaring at his mom, who watched him with a stony face, unrepentant. He snatched the bowl of clams off the counter and threw it at her face. She shrieked in surprise, and he felt the magic sizzle away. He twisted around and darted for the entryway, shooting out into the night waters before she could grab him again.

“Eddie!” he could hear her scream from somewhere behind him. “Eddie, come back!”

She sounded like she was crying. Eddie ignored the guilt that welled up inside of him, trying to hold onto his anger.

She might be better at magic than him, but he was smaller and faster. And right now, he needed to get away.

Not to Bev’s. He didn’t know what her dad would do if he showed up out of the blue in the middle of the night. He could be sure it wasn’t anything good.

Eddie stopped, turning to stare back at the lights of the town-- blue and green bioluminescent pathways covering the arching rocks and ground. He let himself soak it in, then turned and swam in the opposite direction, into the dark night waters.

The lights of Pela’sogles grew distant behind him, until all he had was the pink of his tailfins lighting the night and keeping him from running into looming rocks. The water was cold, and he froze at any shift in the current, searching hard for any sign of predators. There never were, and he would relax slightly and keep going.

Swimming through dark waters really did make you feel very small.


	2. The Storm

Okay, it wasn’t like Richie wasn’t a responsible person.

Some people (read: everyone) would probably disagree with that, but Richie liked to think of himself as responsible with a healthy dose of spontaneity. Which could look irresponsible if you weren’t looking very closely. It was like the opposite of an impressionist painting: it didn’t make sense from far away, but if you got up close, he had a system. He had order. Just not like anyone else’s.

Anyway.

Richie was responsible, and that was why he was checking the weather to see if there was a storm coming  _ before _ he went out on the boat in the middle of the night.

He just needed… something. And he wasn’t getting it by lying awake staring at his spackled ceiling. The doctor had said if you couldn’t sleep, sometimes it was good to get up and do something else for a while until you felt tired again. So really, he was being very responsible. Taking his health into his own hands.

The back door creaked as he pushed it open, and he winced, counting to ten before slipping through and shutting it as quietly as he could. A cool night breeze rustled through his jacket, and he shivered. Wasn’t it supposed to be summer now?

He headed down the steps and onto the dock. The only noise was the lapping of water and, behind him, the sound of crickets and faraway cars. The moon was almost full but not quite, with clouds drifting across it, and the water reflected it in a chopped-up image.

Richie dropped into the boat, which rocked to and fro. Waves splashed quietly against the sides as he untied the knots keeping it moored to the dock and pushed off, into the water.

_ Ironic, _ he thought to himself.  _ Your getaway from the rest of the world is literally on top of the ocean. _

It would make a good joke someday, he was sure of it. He would look back and tell an audience about the time when he had to get a summer internship at a marine biology center (because his parents had forced him to find  _ something _ and his friend Mike was already working there) and to get away from it all, he’d go out on a boat.

Not that he hated working at the center. He just… didn’t love it. He’d much rather spend his summer at the arcade, or coming up with comedy material, or just being lazy during his few months of freedom. The only upside to the job was that Mike worked there too.

Mike wasn’t like Richie. He’d actually  _ wanted _ to work there, because he was interested in things like research and animals and stuff that Richie never saw the appeal of. Richie was more interested in people, and art, and entertaining people. Not that he wouldn’t accept his parents buying him a dog if they ever wanted to.

This was something that had been pointed out to his parents many times.

A choppy wave jolted him out of his thoughts. A bit of water splashed over his shoes, soaking them. “Oh, come on,” Richie said. He had  _ work _ tomorrow.

Looking up, the sky was cloudier than before. The wind had picked up too, and the waves were getting choppy.  _ But it’s not supposed to storm, _ was the first thought that went through his mind. He’d checked, and the area had been totally clear for the next few days. He was sure of it.

_ But I’m not tired yet, _ was his second thought, then he mentally smacked himself. He was so not staying out in a storm for a reason as dumb as that. He could drown, or the boat could get wrecked and he’d have to explain to his parents why they didn’t have a boat anymore--

Another, harder wave rocked the boat. “Okay, going now,” he said quickly, picking up the oars.

It was hard to row in conditions like these. The waves pushed him back and forth, daring him to try and row a straight line. Fear spiked in his chest once or twice, when a bigger wave nearly tipped the boat over, but each time the wave passed and the boat stayed afloat.

“Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay,” he chanted to himself softly. It was  _ fine. _ Everything was  _ fine. _ He just had to make it back to the dock--

A wave barreled over him and his boat. Before he had time to process what was going on, the boat tilted, and he felt a rush of cold as he plunged into the water.

It was dark. And cold. He couldn’t breathe. For a long moment, he didn’t know which way was up. The water swirled around him, pushing and pulling and pelting him with debris.  _ Oh my God, I’m going to die here, _ Richie realized. He hadn’t even said goodbye to his parents.

Something slammed into him, knocking the air out of him. Everything went dim and quiet. There was a faint buzzing in his ears, and far away, the roaring sound of the water.

Everything went black.

The next time Richie blinked his eyes open, his vision was spinning and he felt hazy. Vaguely, he could feel himself being tossed this way and that in the waves, but he was breathing. It looked like he was in some kind of big bubble. Someone else was in there with him, mumbling something under his breath in a language Richie didn’t recognize. The entire space was lit by a soft pink glow. That was coming from… the guy’s  _ tail. _

Richie tried to sit up, but his vision spun and he thought he might throw up. The merman-- because that was what he was-- glared at Richie and shook his head, pushing him back down. He broke his strange chant to say something sharp-- “Minte, kanos kaliupé, etilei!” Richie didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded annoyed.

“What?” Richie mumbled. The word came out more slurred than he’d meant it to. The mermaid didn’t answer, just continued his chant. The bubble-thing rocked violently, and Richie’s vision went hazy and dim. He wondered if the mermaid was going to eat him.

That was his last thought for a while.

* * *

Eddie could cry, honestly.

If the numb drifting through dark waters wasn’t enough, he had to get caught up in a storm. One that had come out of nowhere, with no warning at all. And then, after being tossed around and knocked up by all the debris and shit humans put in the water, he had to go and run into a human.

What human was dumb enough to go out in the middle of a storm? He’d heard stories, but he’d never understood it. It was a generally accepted fact that humans were able to predict the weather, so  _ why _ would a human ever try to  _ die _ like that?

He knew he was being melodramatic. He also really didn’t care. He’d had the worst day, and now he had to save a human. Plus, his left tailfin had been torn by some debris, and the slicing pain was hard not to focus on. Plus plus, his shoulder was aching. He hadn’t looked at it yet. He doubted he’d like what he saw.

The storm had let up, finally, but the human wasn’t awake yet. Eddie let his bubble drift to the surface, which wasn’t far at all. They weren’t that deep. There was debris floating all around them, and in the distance, he could see the shore.

“I’m gonna have to get you all the way over there, aren’t I,” Eddie said to the human. The human, unconscious, didn’t respond.

Eddie sighed.

He was a fast swimmer, and he took pride in that, but there was only so much he could do with an injured tail, and especially when he was dragging a deadweight human along with him.

“How humans have survived this long as a species I will never know,” he muttered to himself, pulling the human up onto a larger piece of driftwood, then grabbing the human’s glasses before they sank. They kept slipping off.  _ Mermaid _ glasses stayed on. You’d think they’d have the same problem on the surface. You’d think they’d try to fix it and make glasses that didn’t fall off every two seconds.

“I should just leave you here,” Eddie told the human, sliding his glasses back on. He didn’t really mean it, but it was a nice thought. He was exhausted already, from the storm and the protection spell-- which he’d had to keep up for  _ forever, _ thanks very much. Plus, his shoulder and tailfin hurt like hell.

He took a deep breath and began pushing the driftwood towards shore.

* * *

He found the shore what felt like days later, but was really probably more like ten or fifteen minutes. By the time he pushed the driftwood up onto the sand, he was panting from exertion. He wanted to slip back into the water and find a nice calm little nook, burrow into the sand, and sleep for days.

Unfortunately, they were still in the water.

If humans were hardier in water (that is, if they could stand it at all for more than a minute) Eddie could have left the human there and he would be fine. But humans couldn’t survive in even the most shallow tides when they were asleep like this. Plus, the tides might drag him right back into the water and undo all of Eddie’s hard work.

Eddie was too far upshore to swim any longer, but he was so not letting this human die after he’d put all this work in keeping him alive.

Eddie wrapped one arm around the human and used his other arm to drag himself further up onto the sand, kicking his tail furiously for any traction he could get. He slid forwards, just a bit.

Eddie huffed.  _ Okay. _

It took a long time, but Eddie was finally able to drag the human to what he deemed to be a safe distance from the water. The human’s feet were just barely out of the reach of the tide, but Eddie couldn’t drag him any further. His arms were burning and the sand was hot and scratchier than it was in the water. He felt heavier than normal. He allowed himself a second to just breathe, panting harshly and staring at the human, who hadn’t woken up. Eddie still had work to do.

Once he’d been able to catch his breath a bit more, he straightened up a bit and pulled his bag off his back, wincing when the rope rubbed his scraped shoulder. Digging around inside for his magical ingredients, he paused on a promising rock, then snatched it and put it on the human’s chest.

He placed his hands on either side of the rock. “Selene, Hecate, help your faithful child,” he said. It was a standard beginning to most spells, and sometimes worked as a spell on its own. But with his rock as part of it, Eddie would need a stronger spell than just that.

He began to sing.

Singing for magic was more of a siren thing, in general, but that didn’t mean sea witches were totally inept at it. Eddie hadn’t used it that often, but he knew how well enough.

The song was a lullaby he’d heard once, when he and Bev had been exploring a sunken wreck, deeper than they’d gone before. They’d both heard the wordless sound carrying through the ocean, and when they’d looked outside for the source, they’d seen a deep-sea mermaid, twice as large as the boat they were in, gliding past and cradling her baby as the sound reverberated around them.

Eddie didn’t think his singing sounded anywhere near as beautiful as that mermaid’s, but it didn’t matter. The stone he’d chosen crumbled to glitter-dust and swirled through the air like krill before dissipating in a bright shower of sparks.

The human drew a deep breath in, then coughed. Eddie watched him nervously, but the human’s breathing lengthened out became steady. He didn’t open his eyes, but he looked much healthier than he had a minute ago.

Eddie sighed in relief, flopping down onto the sand and closing his eyes. He’d already pushed himself to the limit with the protection spell and the swimming, and now he could feel exhaustion seeping into him from the spell he’d just performed. He felt shaky and hot all over, so tired he could barely think.

He just needed to rest his eyes for a minute, then he’d get back in the water and find someplace to sleep.

_ Just for a minute, _ he told himself, and that was the last thought he had before passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter this time, sorry :( the next chapter should be longer, but I hope you still liked this one!


	3. On Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna say thank you again to those people who have commented on the previous chapters! yall are so sweet and keep me motivated to write this. otherwise I probably wouldn't given my adhd tbh.

Richie woke up on a beach.

This was pretty confusing, because last he checked, he’d been on a boat in the middle of a storm. You don’t go from being in a storm like that to waking up on a beach, except for in the movies.

Still, he could feel the gritty, sun-warmed sand beneath him, and when he opened his eyes, he was staring up at the sky. It was just fading to sunset-- or sunrise, maybe, he wasn’t sure what time it was.

Another confusing thing-- he felt totally fine. Not a scratch, no water in his throat, he was fine. Even his glasses were still on, albeit really dirty.

Richie sat up, looked around. His jaw dropped.

Lying next to him was a mermaid.

Everything came rushing back then-- the bubble, the cute mermaid guy glaring at him and chanting. Apparently he hadn’t eaten Richie after all.

Richie studied the mermaid more closely. His tail ( _ tail! _ ) glittered green-gold in the sunlight. The tips of his fins were tinged pink, as though someone had dipped them in dye. From the waist up, he looked like any normal human, maybe around Richie’s age. Richie would have thought he was cute, maybe even beautiful, if he wasn’t more preoccupied with thinking how hurt he looked.

The mermaid’s shoulder was scraped red and raw, a piece of wood dug into the wound. He was unconscious, but his brow was furrowed and his face was flushed, as if he had a fever. His breathing was labored. The tip of his left tailfin was torn and bleeding.

_ He saved my life, _ Richie realized with a pang.  _ Even though it nearly killed him. _

Richie reached out, then hesitated, hands hovering over the creature. Warily, he put a hand on the mermaid’s forehead. It was burning hot.

The mermaid blinked his eyes open, looking dazed and feverish. He focused in on Richie. “M’nme vit’eia,” he mumbled.

“What?” Richie said, but the mermaid’s eyes were slipping closed again. He didn’t give any indication that he’d heard Richie.

Richie stared at the mermaid, mind going blank. “Okay. Okay. Okay. Ummmm…”

He looked around. The beach they were on was a small sandy nook mostly hidden by large jagged rocks. He recognized the place, vaguely, as a beach only a couple miles from his house. There was a parking lot with an emergency phone in it just over the rocks, if he went over there and called his parents-- no. 

His parents would want to check over him right away, and they’d want to turn the mermaid over to the authorities, or something. He might be able to convince them that he could handle it himself, but that might take too long. And he wanted to keep the mermaid a secret. He wasn’t sure he believed that government labs would torture him or something, but he wasn’t sure he  _ didn’t _ believe it either.

Mind made up, Richie left the mermaid lying where he was on the beach and headed towards the parking lot for the emergency phone. He would call Mike. Mike could help him, he had a truck that they could hide the mermaid in the back of. Plus, Mike knew what to do when fish had an injured fin and stuff. Same concept, right?

“Right,” he mumbled to himself, holding the phone up to his ear. He punched in the numbers and let it ring.

“Hello?” Mike picked up after two rings.

“Hey, Mike-n-ike,” Richie said.

“...Richie?”

“Uh, yeah, who else?”

“What phone are you calling from?”

“The emergency phone in the parking lot of Hammond Beach,” Richie said. “Look, it’s a long story, but-- can you come here? And bring your truck. Maybe fill the back with water or something.”

“What?”

“Please? This is urgent.”

“...Fine,” Mike said. “But this better not be a prank, Richie.”

The line went dead.

Without anything to distract him, he went back to where the mermaid was hidden, between the rocks. It would be a while until Mike got here if he was filling the back of his truck with water, and Richie wanted to make sure the mermaid didn’t… wash away, or get stolen, or something.

He was still there, right where Richie had left him, still not looking good. Lying next to the mermaid was a drawstring bag-- Richie hadn’t noticed it before, but from how close they were, he was pretty sure the mermaid had been carrying the bag.

Out of curiosity, he peeked inside. There were seven or eight clams ( _ is that what mermaids eat? _ Richie wondered) and a bunch of rocks that upon closer inspection were sparkly, some of them different colors. There were even some pearls. Bits of different-colored seaglass sat at the bottom of the bag, along with a knotted tangle of rope. Scattered among that was different trinkets-- a waterlogged flashlight, some nuts and bolts, and a small control panel with torn wires among them.

Richie looked up from the bag to study the sleeping mermaid’s face. “You’re a regular Ariel, aren’t you,” he said. The mermaid didn’t stir.

Richie closed the bag again. It wasn’t his, after all.

He sat like that, keeping watch, waiting for the sound of Mike’s car. The mermaid stirred awake two more times, mumbling nonsense words--  _ enei kato, pyo’se, ponle. _ Richie didn’t know what language he was speaking, but he was pretty sure even without knowing the words that the mermaid was delirious.

Finally,  _ finally, _ Richie heard a car door slam. He leaped to his feet and scrambled towards the parking lot, stopping once he saw Mike. “Mike!” he called. “Over here!”

Mike went over to Richie, looking monumentally confused. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“Just-- come here, you’ll see,” Richie said, leading the way back down to the rocky alcove. Mike followed him into the clearing, and Richie moved aside so he could see.

Mike’s jaw dropped. “Holy  _ shit, _ ” he breathed, staring.

“He’s really hurt,” Richie said. “Mike, we need to help him. He saved my life.”

Mike stared at Richie, then back at the mermaid. “Your life?” he repeated.

“Do you need to sit down or something?” Richie said. “Don’t pass out on me, Mikey. I’m counting on your big strong muscles to help me get him to your car.”

Mike blinked and snapped his jaw closed, turning to Richie. “What happened? What do you mean he saved your life?”

“I was out in the storm last night,” Richie said, then held up his hands. “And before you yell at me for being reckless, I  _ did _ check the weather beforehand. It was supposed to be a calm night.”

“You were out there?” Mike said weakly.

“And then I woke up here,” Richie said. “And look-- I’m totally fine, not even a scratch. I’ve still got my  _ glasses _ on. He--” Richie gestured to the mermaid-- “ _ Did _ something. He was lying next to me when I woke up.”

Mike studied the mermaid, moving to crouch down next to him. “And if he goes back in the water like this, he’ll die,” Mike murmured. He gently picked up the mermaid’s torn fin and examined it.

“Okay,” Mike said, putting the fin down again. “Help me pick him up.”

Richie sighed in relief, darting forward to pick up the tail end. “Have I ever told you you’re my best friend?”

“Only when I do you a favor,” Mike said wryly, gently lifting the mermaid’s top half. He wrapped the mermaid’s good arm-- the one without the mangled shoulder-- around his neck. “Ugh, that’s heavier than I expected.”

The mermaid seemed half-conscious as they carried him up the beach, staring dazedly at Mike with half-lidded eyes for only a couple seconds at a time before they slipped closed again. Richie’s arms were burning by the time they lowered him into the back of Mike’s truck, which had a large tarp covering the bottom and sides, water sloshing around inside.

“It was the best I could do on short notice,” Mike said, before Richie could say anything.

The mermaid seemed to relax in the water, even though it wasn’t enough to engulf his entire body. “Nai’po, sele,” he mumbled, not opening his eyes.

“He talks?” Mike said, looking sharply at Richie.

“Oh. Yeah, he’s been doing that,” Richie said. “I think he’s delirious.”

“Oh, good,” Mike said sarcastically. “He’s delirious.”

“Come on,” Richie said, already heading around to the passenger side of the truck. “We need to get him somewhere safe.”

* * *

When Eddie woke up, it was to a sharp pain in his shoulder.

He was lying in shallow water, and somebody was holding him, wiping his shoulder with some kind of fabric. It made his shoulder ache and sting. His tailfin felt like someone had sliced it open. His entire body burned and ached, and for a moment he couldn’t find the strength to open his eyes.

When he was able to pry them open, he was staring up at a ceiling. Not the natural cave ceilings that he was used to-- this ceiling was white and metal and it had those strange webs of metal that humans were fond of using for their towers with blinking lights at the top. It blurred and swayed above him, and Eddie blinked a couple times before it came into focus.

Garbled words sounded next to him, and he startled, noticing for the first time the person leaning over him. It was some human, he could tell by the clothes and the lack of gills on his neck.

He jolted away--  _ what was going on what was that human going to do with him-- _ twisting into the deeper waters and darting in the opposite direction, but he pulled to a stop when he noticed a wall, big and white. He twirled around, scanning for another exit. There wasn’t one. It was a white box. No escape. Dimly, he realized that his tailfin was burning with the movement.

He looked up-- maybe there was a bigger body of water just over the walls that he could climb into and escape. He darted upwards, trying to contain his panic. His head broke the surface, and he scanned the land.

It was a contained room. This was the only body of water in it.

The human was talking garbled words again from across the pool. Eddie pressed himself into a corner, frantically scanning for some escape, something he might have missed. He couldn’t find anything. He couldn’t find  _ anything  _ and his mom was right and he’d been taken by humans and they were gonna torture him or put him on display or maybe  _ eat _ him he was such an idiot--

His eyes stung with tears. His breath came in gasps. His chest felt tight, like he couldn’t get enough air in.  _ Maybe they poisoned me, _ he thought dimly. That would explain why he felt so awful, hot and dizzy and tired.

Speaking of awful, his shoulder was hurting a  _ lot. _ He glanced down at it-- it was scraped up and red. Vaguely, he remembered something hitting his shoulder during the storm.

A new, different voice was saying garbled words now. Eddie looked up. It was the person from the storm, the one who had crashed into him unconscious. He was holding out a familiar bag over the water.

Eddie stared at him, not moving from where he was. He wasn’t going to be baited that easily. He could go without his bag. Even if it did have all his food in it.

The human was saying something, glancing at the other human that Eddie had woken up to. He glanced back at Eddie again, then hesitantly and slowly put the bag in the water.

The human put his hands up and backed away from the edge of the box. The bag floated there, free for the taking.

Warily, Eddie moved forward. The humans didn’t move.

He darted forward and snatched the bag, then retreated a pace, watching the humans all the while. They didn’t move. The one he’d rescued smiled at him hesitantly.

He pulled the bag open and peeked inside, digging through it. All his things were still there-- his clams, his human trinkets, even his magic ingredients. He looked back up at the humans.

Hesitantly, he moved forward, up to the edge of his cage. He beckoned at the one he’d saved to move closer. The human did, slowly crouching down on the edge of the land. The human raised his eyebrows.

Eddie grabbed one of his hands and gripped it tight. “Hecate-Selene-help-your-faithful-child,” he rushed out, then let go of the human’s hands like it was poison. 

A heady rush crashed over him, and he groaned involuntarily, gripping the side of the box. Spots danced in his vision, and his stomach twisted into a knot.

“Is he okay?” one of the humans said.

“Obviously not,” the other murmured.

“Well, what now, he doesn’t trust us to--”

“Shut up,” Eddie groaned, shutting his eyes. His head was pounding, and every time they talked it rubbed against him about as well as a rock.

There was a shocked silence.

“You understand us?” one of the humans said then.

“Yeah, and it really hurts,” Eddie said. “Please shut up.”

The humans were blessedly quiet after that, and Eddie focused on breathing steady and not throwing up.

“I need to sit down somewhere,” Eddie muttered, once he was sure he could open his mouth again.

A hand touched his, and he opened his eyes. Silently, the dark-skinned human pointed to the left-- Eddie followed his finger and saw the place he’d been when he’d woken up, a shallow step cut into the side of the wall.

He slipped underwater to swim the few feet he needed, because that was easier, then pulled himself out to sit on the step and pillowed his head in his arms, twisting to lean them on the land.

He could sense them hovering around him, but he kept his head in his arms until his headache had mostly subsided. He was still exhausted and feverish, but it was an improvement from a minute ago, so he picked up his head and stared at them.

“Who are you,” he said. “Where am I. What are you going to do with me.”

The two humans exchanged a look. “Um,” the one he’d saved started. “I’m Richie. That’s Mike--” he pointed at the dark-skinned one-- “you’re at an aquarium-slash-marine-biology center.”

“I don’t know what any of those words mean,” Eddie said. At Richie’s confused look, he said, “Aquarium, marine biology.”

“Oh,” Richie said. “An aquarium is a place… um, it’s on land, but it’s got lots of exhibits, so people can look at and learn about animals that live in the water. And marine biology is like, the study of animals that live in the water.”

Eddie eyed them with wariness again. “So you’re going to study me? Or make me an attraction?”

_ “No,” _ Richie said, looking shocked. “God, no.”

“We brought you here to help you,” Mike said, putting his hands up placatingly. “No one else knows you’re here. Just-- we figured you need water, but if we’d put you in the ocean, you would’ve been swept away before we could help.”

“Help what,” Eddie said.

Richie and Mike glanced at each other again. “Well, your shoulder is pretty banged up,” Richie said. “And your tailfin. When I woke up, you were passed out next to me. You had a really high fever.”

Eddie stared at them. “...Oh.”

“I was cleaning your shoulder when you woke up,” Mike said. “Sorry for scaring you, by the way. In retrospect, waking up with a stranger holding you in a place you don’t know is probably pretty freaky.”

“It’s... okay,” Eddie said, giving him a tentative smile. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Can I ask you a question?” Richie said, then didn’t wait for an answer. “What did you just do? Can you learn languages through skin contact or something?”

Eddie gave him a look. “No,” he said. “It’s magic.”

“You can do magic?”

“Human-size bubbles don’t just randomly surround people to protect them from storms, you know,” Eddie said.

“I thought that might have been a dream.”

Eddie shrugged with his good shoulder and didn’t respond. He still wasn’t feeling great.

“It hurt you to do magic just now, didn’t it?” Mike said.

“You’re not supposed to do magic when you’re already sick,” Eddie said. “It takes energy.”

“So… how are you feeling right now?”

Eddie shrugged again. “I’ll live.”

The humans glanced at each other again. They looked concerned, even though it was the truth. It was about the only thing Eddie could say for the situation right now, far from home, stranded out of the ocean, surrounded by strangers, and hurt. If he thought too much about all the things that were wrong right now, he was pretty sure he’d actually implode.

“Is it okay if I clean your shoulder?” Mike said tentatively. “You scraped it up pretty badly.”

Eddie studied his face, before deciding he didn’t really have a choice. “Yeah,” he said. “Sure, whatever.”

Wordlessly, Mike sat down on the land next to him and picked up the same fabric that he’d been using earlier. Richie sat down on the edge of the land, pulling off his shoes and kicking his feet into the water.

“So, do you have a name, Ariel?” Richie said. “Because I’ve kinda just been calling you ‘cute mermaid guy’ in my head.”

Eddie scrunched up his nose. “I’m not cute,” he said. “What’s an Ariel?”

“A mermaid from a kid’s story,” Richie said. “And I’m gonna keep calling you cute if I don’t know your name.”

“Eddie,” Eddie said.

“That’s a pretty human-sounding name,” Mike said, not looking up from Eddie’s shoulder.

“Mermaids who live near the surface tend to have more human names,” Eddie said.

“So you live near the surface?”

“No. My dad used to.”

“What were you doing so close to shore, then?” Richie said, swinging his legs in the water.

“I’m able to move around,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes. “You’re the one who’s terrible at being in water, I should ask you what  _ you _ were doing out in the middle of a storm.”

“Hey, what do you mean, terrible at being in water?” Richie said. “I’m a great swimmer!”

“Didn’t seem like it when I found you,” Eddie said. “Besides, I didn’t say swimming, I said  _ being in water. _ ”

Richie opened his mouth, but Mike cut him off. “What’s the difference?”

“Humans can’t even breathe underwater, they have to go up for air, like, all the time,” Eddie said. “Plus, they can’t stand water pressure at all, they can barely go down a few feet.”

“We can go down more than a few feet,” Richie said, but Eddie ignored him.

“Didn’t you know there was a storm coming? I thought humans were able to predict that kind of thing.”

“Usually,” Richie said. “But it was  _ supposed _ to be a calm night. The storm kinda came out of nowhere.”

Eddie stared at him, a sinking feeling in his gut. 

He had a horrible suspicion that he knew exactly why humans couldn’t predict that storm. 

“Oh,” he said, voice small.

“What?” Richie said.

Eddie opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Nothing,” he said, looking away.

The humans didn’t say anything for a moment. Mike started brushing some liquid thing on Eddie’s shoulder. It burned, and Eddie flinched. “Sorry,” Mike murmured. “Don’t want it to get infected.”

“Thank you, anyway,” Richie said. Eddie blinked at him. “What?”

“I mean, you saved my life,” Richie said. “Even though it really hurt you.”

If Eddie hadn’t been out there, Richie probably wouldn’t have needed saving. Sea witches didn’t care about drowning humans unless they’d cheated on a deal, and given that Richie didn’t even know about magic until a minute ago, Eddie doubted that was the case. 

But he didn’t know how to explain all that. Also, he didn’t want to.

“Don’t thank me,” Eddie said. “Just-- be more careful next time.”

_ Next time. _

Would there be a next time? How far would his mom go to get him back? Did she know where he was right now?

An uneasy buzzing feeling settled in his brain. He had to go back. Somehow, that thought was more suffocating than being trapped here, on land.

He had to go back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)  
> next chapter we get to see Bev again and meet some other losers! If my outline is correct and the story doesn't just do its own thing. no promises.  
> anyway, I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Trouble At Bay

It had been two days.

Bev hadn’t seen any sign of Eddie through all of Pela’sogles, and neither had anybody else. This wasn’t super surprising in and of itself-- Eddie’s mom was wildly overprotective. If she thought there was a chance Eddie might be sick or injured, Bev wouldn’t see him for at least a week.

Bev knew that Eddie _hated_ when this happened. He didn’t like to talk about it, but Bev could tell. Bev wasn’t overly fond of it either-- she didn’t really have any other friends in Pela’sogles, other than Bill, and most of the time Bill was watching his brother. So Bev was usually doomed to roam the waters alone, because no way was she staying home with her dad.

So, it had been two days.

She was swimming lazily near the arch on the eastern side of town, trying to act like she was busy by occasionally picking up shells and putting them in her bag. There were vague, half-formed ideas about jewelry in the back of her mind that she wasn’t sure would go anywhere. She’d see if it would work out later.

The tides were easy today, as if they were making up for the storm a couple nights ago. Sunlight rippled through the waters. All in all, it was a nice and boring day.

A cry caught her attention, and her gaze darted up to the top of the arch. It was hard to tell from her vantage point, but she caught a flicker of red in the light.

_Henry._

He’d been in a particularly bad mood these past few days, seeming even more unhinged than normal. Apparently today he’d found a new victim.

Bev straightened her shoulders purposely and headed towards the sound.

“Hey!” she called out when she was close enough. “What are you doing?”

She drew up in front of the scene. Henry turned and glared at her, holding some chubby kid she’d never seen before tight by the arm. The chubby kid stared at her, seemingly frozen in shock.

“The fuck does it look like?” Henry said. “Get out.”

“Let him go,” Bev said. It sounded suicidal even to her own ears, but she wasn’t just going to walk away.

Henry watched her, calm and crazed all at once. “Make me,” he said.

Bev faltered.

“Make me, siren,” Henry said again, grinning now. “I know you want to.”

The kid Henry was holding onto punched Henry in the jaw.

It was so sudden, Bev didn’t see it coming. Henry let go of the kid’s arm, floating in shock for a moment. The kid moved away from him and over to Bev. “Don’t talk like that to her,” he said.

Henry’s eyes flashed with something dangerous. “You’re gonna fucking pay for that, new kid,” he growled.

“No he’s not,” Bev said, trying to sound firm. “I mean, unless you wanna get in trouble with my dad. He’s right over there--” she gestured behind some rocks-- “and I’m supposed to be over there with him. He’s gonna come see what’s keeping me soon.”

He wasn’t right over there. As far as Bev knew, he was at home. But Henry wouldn’t dare mess with Alvin Marsh’s little girl while he was around.

Henry’s jaw worked furiously. “...You get off the hook this time,” he said finally. “But next time I see you two, you’re shark food.”

“I look forward to it,” Bev said, grabbing the other kid’s arm and pulling him away.

“Thanks,” the other kid said as soon as they were out of hearing distance. His voice was softer than it had been at the arch.

“No problem,” Bev said. “You’ve got a good punch.”

“Thanks,” he said again, smiling a bit. “I’ve never actually-- I mean, I’ve never punched anyone before.”

“Probably a good thing. I’m Bev.”

“I know,” the kid said. “I mean, I’ve-- I’ve seen you around.”

“Oh.”

“I’m Ben,” the boy said quickly, as if just realizing he hadn’t said it yet. “I’m new here.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Ben,” Bev said. “I’ll probably see you around.”

“Oh.” Ben fidgeted with his hands. “Yeah, probably.”

Bev turned to go. She’d gone a couple yards before he called after her. “Wait!”

She turned. “What?”

“That’s the way to the witch’s house.”

Bev glanced between him and the waters that led to Eddie’s house. Raised her eyebrows. “Yup.”

“I mean,” Ben said, looking uncomfortable now, “Isn’t she-- dangerous?”

“Yeah,” Bev said. “But her son is my friend. I haven’t seen him around, I’m going to go check on him.”

“Oh.” Ben said. “Can I come with you?”

Bev frowned at him. “Why would you want to?”

“You know,” he said. “In case you need backup.” He put up his fists.

Bev grinned. “She’s not that dangerous,” she said. Ben put his fists down. He looked kind of cute when he was embarrassed. 

Bev smiled at him. “You can still come if you want.”

“Oh!” Ben brightened. “Okay, then-- okay.”

She turned to head towards Eddie’s house again. She could feel the currents moving behind her as Ben swam to catch up.

* * *

It had been two days.

Eddie knew this, even though he was stuck inside in the box-pool that Richie and Mike had brought him to. The lights shut off every night, plunging him into a darkness that had made him jump the first time it happened. Even without that, though, he’d know it was two days, because his internal clock was ticking down the time until the blue moon happened in a few days.

He was restless and tired most of the time, tired of being tired and restless at the thought of leaving or staying. His feelings were shaken up inside of him since the storm. He kept busy with meaningless tasks. And, on occasion, meaningless conversation.

“Eddie spaghetti!”

“I don’t know what a spaghetti is,” Eddie said, not looking up from where he was cleaning his tail, “But I do know that’s not my name.”

“Just trying to bring in some variety,” Richie said, plopping down next to him and sticking his legs in the pool. “I think I’d probably die of boredom if I was stuck in here all the time.”

“Well, you die easier than me,” Eddie said, rubbing hard at his scales with his thumbnail to clean out the cracks.

“You _are_ bored,” Richie said. “I can tell.”

“No you can’t,” Eddie said automatically.

“Yes I can.”

“No you can’t.”

“Yes I can, you know why?”

Eddie sighed, squishing down his smile. “Why?”

“Because you and me are bonded.” Richie poked him in the shoulder. “Bonded by the waves of the storm.”

Eddie pursed his lips. Richie still didn’t know about who sent the storm. Eddie wasn’t planning on telling him. “That’s dumb,” he said instead.

“Is not.”

Eddie sighed and didn’t argue.

The other day Richie had made him try soda for the first time, and it had tasted good after he got past the initial burning feeling. Then he’d made Eddie laugh so hard it came out of his nose, which had really hurt, and then Richie had apologized over and over and kept asking if he was really okay. It made him feel weird, but in a good way. Like Richie really, really cared about him, even though they’d barely met.

Now, thinking back to him in the storm, limp and pale, brought a squeezing cold feeling to Eddie’s chest. It was dumb to be retroactively scared, but now he knew how _good_ Richie was. How much he cared about… things, and then Eddie cared too and things were less unbearable.

He didn’t want to think about the storm. Didn’t want to think about the possibility of more hurt. Didn’t want to think about the problems that were waiting for him back in the ocean.

“Hey.” Richie nudged his shoulder. “Earth to Eddie.”

“What?”

“You okay?”

“Fine,” Eddie said automatically, going back to cleaning his scales.

“Fine like fine or fine like not fine?”

Fine like fine,” Eddie said. “Is it a human thing to say the opposite of what you mean?” He knew what Richie had meant, but that didn’t mean Richie had to know that he knew.

Richie rolled his eyes. “It’s okay if you’re not fine, you know,” he said. “No one would blame you.”

“I’m fine.” Eddie took a deep breath. The air was starting to feel thin.

A beat passed. It was almost silent except for the water filter burbling in the corner and the low lapping of water against the side walls.

“What’s it like there?” Richie said softly. It took Eddie a moment to process what he was asking.

“I dunno,” Eddie said. “What’s it like up here?”

“Normal,” Richie said, then, “Ohh.”

Eddie snorted. “Yup.”

He swished the end of his tail in the pool. It still stung when he moved his fin, but at least now it was less scary and more annoying.

“I guess,” he started. “Uh, there’s magic down there, and stuff.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Richie said, lips quirking up.

“Shut up. There’s…” _only some people can do magic, make magic storms,_ he thought about saying. _There’s more magic than you know about._ “...Um, we eat jellyfish tails.”

Richie snorted. “Oh my God, what?”

Something like relief mixed with guilt caved in his chest. “I’m not joking! It’s good!”

“Actually?”

“Actually. It’s, like… spicy.”

“Like noodles?” Richie gasped. “Like spaghetti!”

“I don’t know what a noodle is,” Eddie said. “Or spaghetti.”

Richie ignored him. “So it’s good? You like, like it?”

“Yeah, it’s good,” Eddie said. “I already said that.”

Richie hummed, adjusting his glasses. Eddie waited for him to say something.

Richie stood up suddenly. “I’ll be back,” he announced, and headed for the door.

“Uh, I don’t think you can get--” Eddie began, but the doors were already swinging closed.

He sighed, disappointed for a reason he couldn’t place.

* * *

Richie bounded out into the hallway with a spring in his step. He was on a mission. A mission for Eddie.

Eddie might never admit it, but Richie could _tell_ he was bored. And sad, also. Richie had been watching him closely since he got here-- not like that, just. Noticing. It was fun. Eddie was fun. And really cool, and cute, and maybe Richie had a bit of a crush but that wasn’t the point. Eddie was cool and Richie didn’t want him to be sad.

So. A mission.

He turned the corner and ran straight into a cleaning cart. “Shit, sorry--”

“Oh my God,” an exasperated voice said. An exasperated, familiar voice. “It’s fine. But watch where you’re going next time, jeez, Richie.”

Richie straightened up. “Hey, Stan.”

He and Stan were… friends, sort of. They knew each other. Stan was cool in that he mostly tolerated Richie, which was more than a lot of people at school would do. But they were in different classes and lived on opposite ends of town and Stan was never free on saturdays to hang out, which made it hard to be _friend_ -friends.

“Hey,” Stan said. “Can you… move, please?”

“Oh, sorry,” Richie said, stepping out of the way. Stan rolled his eyes good-naturedly and started pushing the cart past him.

“It’s fine,” Stan said. “Just try paying attention sometimes.”

“Right,” Richie said distantly, watching Stan move away down the hallway. Something clicked in his brain.

“Hey!” He sprinted after Stan, skidding to a stop in front of his cart. “Where are you taking this?”

“Uh, the empty pool?”

“You can’t go in there,” Richie said quickly. Too quickly.

Stan gave him a weird look. “Um, yeah I can. Leslie told me to.”

He tried to move past Richie, but Richie stepped in front of him, frantically going through cabinets in his mind for excuses. “You… can’t,” he said. “Because what Leslie doesn’t know is… there’s a gas leak.”

Stan stared at Richie like he was a modern art sculpture, the ones that never made sense and were somehow super expensive even though they were trash. Like he was offended by the very idea that Richie was trying to represent something intelligent.

Which. Yeah, that was fair in this situation, but still.

“I’m serious,” Richie said. “You could die if you go in there. Really.”

“If there’s a gas leak, why haven’t you told Leslie?”

“Oh, you know how she gets,” Richie said. Mentally slapped himself. Leslie was the calmest, most patient person he knew.

“Me and Mike just figured… why not deal with it ourselves, you know? Save her the trouble.”

“Uh huh,” Stan said. “Okay, normally I would ride out… whatever this is, because it’s kind of entertaining to watch you dig yourself into a hole, but my shift is over after this and I have a date today, so--”

“A date! Who’s the lucky lady? Or the lucky dude. Or lucky enby. Though, those last two don’t have the same ring to it, we should come up with something better.”

“Seriously, Richie,” Stan said. “I don’t care if you’ve been using this as your secret sex spot or whatever, I just want to do my job.”

“That’s not-- I’m not--” Normally Richie would make a joke out of that, but his brain was short-circuiting. “I’ll do it.”

Stan eyed him warily. “You’ll do what?”

“I’ll go in there for you. So you can go on your date.”

Stan looked him over. Richie held his breath. “...Fine,” Stan said. “Weirdo.”

“Uh huh, yep, that’s me,” Richie said, grabbing the cart from Stan. He pushed it hurriedly into Eddie’s room, the doors swinging shut behind him.

Across the room, sitting at the edge of the pool, Eddie perked up. “Oh, you brought a…” he studied the cleaning cart, squinting at it like that would give him extra clues to what it was. “Nevermind, I give up.”

“It’s a cleaning cart,” Richie said. “I wasn’t _going_ to bring it. I got sidetracked.”

Eddie didn’t answer. His eyes were wide, and he was staring a little to the left of Richie.

A chill went down Richie’s spine, and he turned around. Stan stood in the doorway, gaping.

“What,” he said softly, “the _fuck._ ”

“Stan!” Richie said, stepping in front of Eddie. “I can explain--” _No I can’t._ Behind him, there was a splash, signalling that Eddie had dived under the water.

Stan turned to Richie. “What the _fuck._ ”

“Okay, stop freaking out,” Richie said, holding his hands out in front of him like he was trying to tame a particularly skittish horse.

“ _Excuse_ me?” Stan’s voice was high and panicked. “That was-- you-- that--”

“Are you having a stroke?” Richie grinned a bit at his own joke. Stan didn’t seem to share his sense of humor.

“That was a _mermaid,_ ” Stan hissed. “Tell me I’m not crazy.”

“Okay, you’re not crazy.”

“Mermaids don’t _exist._ ”

“Well, apparently they do,” Richie said. “Okay? Okay. Now listen. You can’t tell _anybody_ about this.” he paused. “Well, except Mike. He already knows.”

Stan gaped at him. Abruptly turned on his heel and walked back out the swinging door. Richie swore under his breath and hurried after him.

Stan was walking briskly down the hallway. “Stan!” Richie called, chasing after him. He caught up, grabbing Stan’s arm. “Stan! Stan.”

“Don’t,” Stan said.

“Stan, you just need to listen--”

“I said _stop it._ ”

Richie stopped. Stan didn’t start moving again. Instead, he stepped back and slid down the wall to sit on the floor, head in his hands. Richie hovered over him.

“Are you… okay?”

“Sure.”

Richie waited for a second. Stan didn’t move. After a moment, he started talking again. “Mermaids can’t exist.”

Richie bit his lip. Comfort, or… whatever this was, had never been his strong suit. “...But they do,” he said, trying to sound gentle.

“But they _can’t,_ ” Stan snapped. He pulled his head out of his hands. “Anatomically speaking, and evolutionally speaking, and-- it doesn’t make _sense,_ okay.”

“Okay,” Richie said, sitting down next to Stan on the floor. “Sure. I’m not saying you have to understand it. You’ve obviously got your own… stuff, or whatever. Just-- please, please, don’t tell anyone.”

Stan stared at him. The hallway was quiet.

“He’s hurt,” Richie added. “He needs help. And we don’t know what people would do if they found out.”

Stan looked down at the ground. Traced the edges of the tiles, where they went from blue to white.

“Okay.”

“O-- wait, really?” Richie perked up.

“Yeah, I’m not a _monster,_ Richie,” Stan said. “Plus, nobody would believe me.”

“Fair point,” Richie said. “I… thanks.”

“Sure,” Stan got up from the floor and offered Richie a hand. “But don’t think I’m happy about this, okay? Just… give me some time to get used to it.”

“Sure,” Richie echoed. And then, because it seemed like the right thing to do, “Um, if you ever wanna talk…”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to Mike,” Stan said, smiling.

“Ouch.” Richie grinned back. “Have fun on your date?”

Stan made a face. “After that? Maybe not. I’ll see you later, though.”

He set off down the hallway. “See you later, Stan the Man,” Richie called after him. Stan stopped dead and turned to fix Richie with a look. “No.”

“You’ll warm up to it.”

“I will not.”

“I bet you will.”

“God.” Stan rolled his eyes. “I’m leaving now.”

Richie watched him walk away and turn the corner. _Okay._ So that wasn’t… half bad. And now he could go back and tell Eddie the good news, at least.

_Eddie._

Richie startled and hurried after Stan for the third time. “Stan! Hey, Stan.”

He caught up to him in the main atrium, and had to hold up a finger as he panted for breath. Man, he was out of shape. “Favor.”

“I’m already doing you one.”

“Not a big one,” Richie promised. “Just-- can I have your keys?”

* * *

It was quiet, and everyone was gone. Eddie was drifting aimlessly in the water, going over the things in his bag for the thousandth time. It was a welcome distraction from his thoughts, which were muddled and confusing and stressful.

A strange noise caught his attention-- a splashing at the surface of the water. Eddie glanced up to see a hand waving back and forth, making bubbles on the surface. He flicked his tail, drifting upwards and breaking the surface. Richie was crouching on the edge of the pool, hood pulled up.

“What are you doing here?” Eddie said. “Aren’t you supposed to be…”

He trailed off, not completely sure what Richie did when he was gone. Home with his parents, maybe, and he’d mentioned something about school once, and some diner that Eddie couldn’t remember the name of.

“Special delivery,” Richie said in a weird voice, holding up a white cup with unfamiliar writing on it. “Stan gave me the keys to get in at night.”

Richie handed the cup to him. It was warm. Inside was a completely unfamiliar food, curly and orange. Eddie looked up at Richie, confused.

“It’s spicy ramen,” Richie said. “Um, it kind of sounded like the… jellyfish tails. So. I figured, since you’re stuck here, and since it’s kind of my fault--”

“It’s not--”

“Shh, let me finish. Since it’s kind of my fault, I figured you should get something more than clams all the time.” he adjusted his glasses, studying Eddie for a reaction.

“Oh,” Eddie said.

_Oh._

“Oh?” Richie said.

Eddie opened his mouth, then closed it again, scrambling to put his thoughts together. “I-- thank you,” he said finally. “This, um. That means a lot.”

Richie broke into a relieved grin. “Well, you should probably try it first,” he said. “Maybe it tastes like fish farts to you, I wouldn’t know.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, trying and failing to fight down a smile. “Oh, shut _up._ ”

Leave it to Richie to make everything less unbearable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the gap between chapter postings. I know most people are more free because of the coronavirus, but I'm actually more busy-- my younger siblings' school has been cancelled for the foreseeable future and my parents need to work, so I'm stuck babysitting them most of the day.  
> I mean, it's not bad, but it does mean I have less time to write. so sorry about that. Hopefully things will clear up soon :)


	5. Truth Will Out

“What’s this one, then?”

“That’s a flashlight,” Richie said. “It lights up over here--” he pointed at the white circle end-- “when you press the button, so you can see in the dark.”

Eddie frowned. “But I’ve pressed the button before, it doesn’t do anything.”

They were sitting on the smooth cold floor, bits and pieces from Eddie’s bag scattered around them. Mike was a few feet away, inspecting Eddie’s tail. The lights were bright, and Richie had brought fish fingers-- which, he’d explained after some initial confusion, weren’t actual fish fingers. They were just fish, but prepared in a weird human way.

“Probably it’s waterlogged,” Richie said, taking it out of Eddie’s hands and inspecting it. Eddie groaned.

“Again? Why are none of your inventions waterproof?”

“They usually don’t need to be,” Mike said. “I mean, we don’t live in the water.”

“Yeah, we’re terrible at being in water, remember?” Richie shot Eddie a smile. “But seriously. It’s the electricity, Eds, it’s in everything.”

“Not everything,” Mike said.

“It’s in most things.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Eddie sighed. “Don’t call me Eds.” He didn’t actually mind when Richie called him that-- actually, he kind of liked it. It was something that was just his. A secret that his mom would never find out. He was just playing along with the Richie Game-- the bouncing back and forth between each other like waves pushing back and forth. It was just the way they talked.

He picked up another trinket, a kind of necklace-thingy dangling by a string.

“What about this?”

“That’s a tamagotchi.”

“What’s--” the door swung open, and Eddie tensed up, head snapping to the door.

Stan stood in the doorway, looking uncomfortable. Eddie probably looked the same way, if he was being honest. Stan may have promised to keep him a secret for now, but Eddie could tell he still didn’t like the whole idea of… all of this. No matter how many times Richie promised that Stan was cool, Eddie couldn’t shake the tension from his shoulders when he was around.

Richie brightened up. “Hey, Stan!”

“Hi,” Stan said. “You know you’re supposed to be working?”

Richie made a face. “Ugh, work,” he said. “Who needs it.”

“Most people, if they want to get into good colleges,” Stan said. “Seriously though, Leslie sent me to tell you that your break ended twenty minutes ago. And Mike, she needs your help with the seals.”

“Oh!” Mike said brightly, bouncing to his feet. “Thanks, Stan.”

“He loves those seals,” Richie said quietly as Mike hurried out the door. “I’m pretty sure he’s plotting some kind of revolution so he can bring one home with him.”

Eddie snorted. Stan frowned. “You’re supposed to be working too, you know.”

“Well--” Richie glanced at Eddie reluctantly. “I’m keeping Eddie company.”

Stan rolled his eyes. “Right, I’ll just tell Leslie that. ‘Sorry, Richie can’t do his job because he’s hanging out with his secret mermaid.’”

“He’s not-- mine,” Richie said. Stan raised an eyebrow. 

Richie sighed. “Fine. I’ll be there.”

He didn’t move to get up. Stan hesitated. 

“If it’s so important, I could keep Eddie company. I’ve got my break in a minute anyway.”

“Really?” Richie glanced dubiously at Eddie. Tingly unease spread buzzing across Eddie’s skin.

“It’s fine,” Stan said, giving a jerky shrug. “I mean-- I wanted to talk to him, anyway.”

Eddie glanced between Richie and Stan. They both looked tense and worried. He opened his mouth. “Sure,” he heard himself say. “We haven’t gotten a chance to really talk yet.”

Richie frowned at him, but stood up. “If you’re sure,” he said. “Thanks, Stan.” Then, to Eddie: “I’ll see you later.”

The words had an undercurrent:  _ I’ll check up on you later to make sure you’re okay. _ A warm feeling spread through Eddie’s chest, counterbalancing the uneasy buzz. “You too.”

And then Richie was gone, and Eddie was alone with Stan. 

The room felt all too quiet. The water filter burbled in the corner.

“So,” Eddie said, at the same time Stan said “Um, I--” 

They both stopped.

“You go first,” Eddie said. He didn’t actually have anything to say anyway.

“Oh,” Stan said, looking uncomfortable. “I just…” he looked away. Eddie pursed his lips.

“Look, you don’t have to be here if you don’t want to,” he said. “I mean, I get that I make you… uncomfortable.”

If anything, Stan looked more uncomfortable at that. “That’s not-- I mean, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay,” Eddie said. Stan didn’t say anything. Eddie waited patiently for a moment. “Are you gonna… say anything?”

“Right,” Stan said. “Yeah. Just…” he sat down a few feet from Eddie, avoiding eye contact. “I wanted to apologize for freaking out. I’m not good with… uh, new stuff. Things I don’t understand.” He glanced up at Eddie quickly before ducking his head again. “But I’m not going to hurt you or anything. You seem nice. Richie likes you. So does Mike, but… yeah.”

“Oh,” Eddie said. His feelings bubbled inside him like soda, making his head seem fizzy. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.  _ Shut up, _ he told his feelings.  _ Focus. We’re not talking about Richie. _

“Oh?” Stan said, watching Eddie uncertainly. Right. He hadn’t answered yet.

“Um, thank you,” Eddie said. “I mean… it’s okay. I kind of reacted the same way when I woke up here. If that helps.”

“Woke up?”

“Yeah. I was… hurt. I mean, I still am.” Eddie flapped his tail, gently so that it wouldn’t start bleeding again. “Otherwise I’d probably be back in the ocean.”

“It was in that storm from a few days ago, right?” Stan said, leaning forward. “Don’t mermaids have, like, safeguards for that?”

Now Eddie was the one avoiding eye contact. “Why would you think that?”

“Because mermaids don’t usually wash up on beaches,” Stan said matter-of-factly. Eddie frowned.

“Well, it wasn’t… I mean, it kind of came out of nowhere,” he said.

Stan hummed, frowning, but seemed to accept the excuse. He sat back again, seeming less uncomfortable than he did before. “So… what’s it like in the ocean?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You really have to be more specific. What’s it like on land?”

Stan snorted. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Don’t worry, Richie did the same thing.”

Stan studied him. Eddie could almost hear the puzzle pieces clicking together in his brain. “You like him?”

Eddie shrugged. “Sure. I mean, he saved my life. And he’s been teaching me about human stuff.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Stan said absently, leaning forward to look at Eddie’s things spread out across the floor. “Has he taught you about birds?”

“No, what’s that?” Eddie didn’t know whether he’d care about birds or not, but it was better than going with the other line of conversation, which was a dangerous subject in his mind. Just because he’d accepted that he might have a (tiny, itty-bitty, pebble-sized) crush on Richie didn’t mean he was planning on doing anything about it. His mom’s voice echoed in his head:  _ Humans will fall for the first thing with scales, sweetheart, you don’t want to do that to yourself. They’re nasty, dirty people, the whole lot of them. _

Stan didn’t notice anything, instead, he perked up, bouncing a bit where he sat. “They’re these little animals that can fly and sing, and there’s all different types of them that you can go out and find. If you want, I could bring my bird book later-- you’d have to be careful not to get it wet, though, it was expensive.”

Eddie wasn’t sure what flying was, or books, but this was the first time he’d seen Stan smile, so he decided to go along with it. “Humans should make more things waterproof,” Eddie said. “But sure, I won’t get it wet.” He held up a hand. “Promise.”

Stan smiled at him-- a real smile this time, not the awkward half-smiles that he’d mostly been doing. Eddie smiled back hesitantly. “So, are we like… friends now? Or something?”

“Yeah,” Stan said. “Friends.”

Thank  _ god. _ Eddie hated it when people hated him.

“For what it’s worth,” Stan said softly. “Richie really likes you. But he’d be crushed if he found out you were lying to him.”

Eddie went very, very still. All of a sudden he was aware of how every movement he made and every word he said could be the wrong one. Stan was watching him closely for his reaction. Eddie pushed down his alarm and tried to mask his face.

He was a beat too late, but he could still try. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Stan frowned at him, but he didn’t seem upset. More… worried, if Eddie had to pinpoint it.

“Whatever. It’s not my business,” Stan said. “But you obviously care about him. And I’m just saying, if you care about him, you should tell him whatever really happened that night.”

Eddie looked away. Everything was suddenly too much, and his chest felt tight. “I’m telling the truth.”

The silence stretched out between them. “Okay,” Stan said finally. Eddie still didn’t look at him. He heard, rather than saw, the door swing shut as Stan left.

* * *

“I can’t believe this,” Bev said, for the thousandth time.

“Bev--” Bill started. She ignored him.

“I mean, I should have known-- I should have done something, we all know his mom’s terrible, for all we know he could be  _ dead-- _ ”

_ “Bev,” _ Bill hissed. “Georgie’s in the next room.”

“Sorry,” Bev said, and lowered her voice, sinking down to sit on the sandy floor of Bill’s room. “But I swear, if she’s done something to him, I’m gonna--” she made a violent gesture with her hands.

“We need to calm down,” Ben said softly. “You two knew-- know Eddie. Is there somewhere he might go other than his house?”

“Overnight? No,” Bev said.

“Well, except hu-here,” Bill said. “But--” he gestured at the empty space around them.

“Okay,” Ben said. “Is there anywhere… anyone would  _ take _ him? Overnight?”

“No,” Bev said reflexively, then went back and thought about it. “Well… no. Except for a ditch, if he was dead.”

“Maybe he’s in jail,” Bill said hopefully. Bev made a face.

“Why would he be in jail?”

Bill shrugged. “I dunno. We haven’t checked th-there yet.”

Bev sighed, looking over at the watery light glistening from the window. If Eddie were here, he’d be excitedly pointing out how much light there was.

“He’ll be so upset if he misses the blue moon,” Bev said. “Theátos is his favorite time of year.”

“We’ll find him,” Ben said softly. Bev didn’t look at him. Her thoughts were swirling inside of her like the sea storm from a few nights ago. What if he was dead? What if his mom had done something really horrible to him? She wouldn’t be able to handle it if he was  _ gone, _ for good. Eddie had been a part of her life for so long, being his friend was as natural as eating or sleeping. It was just a natural part of the cycle of life.

The days would be so  _ empty _ without him.

“Bev,” Ben said loudly. She looked up at him. His face was soft and earnest. “We’re going to find him. I promise.”

“Ben’s right,” Bill said. “We’re not gih-giving up.”

She glanced between them-- Bill determined, Ben sincere. She smiled at both of them. “You’re right. We’ll find him.” she tilted her chin up, straightening her back. “I don’t give up on my friends.”

* * *

Eddie had been spending more time above water than normal since he was on land. It was just nicer there-- being underwater didn’t give him much to look at except for white walls and sandy floors. Plus, there was nothing else in the tank with him, so it was deathly quiet, the only noises echoing from above the surface as if from very far away.

He was underwater now, though, because he needed time to think. Or sulk. Bev would probably say he was sulking.

He sighed.

Thinking about Bev wasn’t helping. He wished she were here. She always understood him. Even when he didn’t want her to, she saw through him like he was a jellyfish and told him exactly what she thought about it. He could use that kind of help right now, as tangled up as he was.

He closed his eyes, trying to picture it.  _ “Oh, wow,” _ Bev would say, leaning back and raising her eyebrows.  _ “You really are in a mess, aren’t you.” _

_ Yeah, I know, _ he thought to imaginary-Bev.  _ You don’t have to tell me. _

_ “It’s called sympathy, Eddie,” _ Bev would say.  _ “But if you want advice, fine. I think your mom is dumb and you shouldn’t live your life based on anything she says or does.” _

This was an easy conversation to imagine, because it was one that had happened a thousand times before between them-- her with her dad, him with his mom. It always came to a standstill and neither of them ever took the other’s advice, but they were comforting talks, in a weird way. He almost felt guilty thinking that, but it was the simple truth.

The water splashed up above. Eddie jumped and looked up-- Richie’s blurry figure was rippling above the surface. For once, it wasn’t exciting. He didn’t want to talk to Richie right now.

Still, Richie was expecting him. Eddie pushed up off the sand and glided up to break the surface. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Richie grinned at him.

“What are you doing here?” Reluctantly, he pulled himself up to sit next to Richie at the edge of the pool.

“I said I’d see you later, didn’t I?” If Richie noticed that Eddie wasn’t happy, he didn’t comment. “How was Stan?”

“He was-- it was fine,” Eddie said, focusing on the rectangular light reflections on the water. “He said he’d show me his bird book sometime.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Stan,” Richie said fondly.

Eddie tried for a smile, but it fell flat after a moment. Hopefully Richie wouldn’t notice.

“You okay?”

Goddammit.

“I’m fine.”

“Fine like fine or fine like not fine?”

Eddie gave a halfhearted snort. “Fine like fine. I’m just… thinking.”

“About what?”

Eddie was a bad liar. Normally it didn’t bother him.

The water filter burbled. Light reflections from the water danced across the walls, creating a web of light and dark above the pool. Richie nudged Eddie’s tail with his foot.

“Look, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. We can--”

“No,” Eddie said, before he could chicken out. “I should--”

He bit his lip, studying Richie. Richie was looking dubious now, in that small understated way that he did when he was actually concerned instead of just play-acting. Like he was trying not to show it.

Eddie let out his breath. “Look,” he said. “I… was thinking about the storm.”

“Okay?”

“You better not freak out.”

Richie was quiet for a moment. “You know, when you say that it makes me kinda want to freak out.”

“Richie, I’m being serious.”

“Okay,” Richie said. He nudged Eddie’s arm comfortingly. The spot tingled even after he’d taken his hand away. “Okay. I won’t freak out.”

“Okay,” Eddie said. His thoughts were still jangling inside his brain, but it helped a little. “I think… I mean, I think I know what caused the storm.”

Richie didn’t say anything.

“My mom,” Eddie said, even though he didn’t want to, just so he could fill up the silence. “She can do bigger magic than me, and we were having a fight, and… and sea witches are kind of known for storms like that.”

“Sea witches.”

“Yeah.” Eddie looked away. “It’s, um, a type of mermaid.”

“I know,” Richie said.

It was silent again. Eddie cast around for words to fill the empty space, but some part of him knew he couldn’t talk right now. He had to let Richie come to his own conclusions, even if they were terrible. Even if he didn’t like Eddie anymore.

“You were in that storm too,” Richie said.

“Yeah.” Eddie didn’t dare look at Richie.

“She… did she know?”

“Know what?”

“That you were out there.”

Eddie dug his fingernails into the pool edge. “I don’t know.” In one-two-three, out one-two-three. “Yeah. Probably.”

“Did she care?”

And that was the eternal question, wasn’t it. It felt, strangely, like he was in the eye of a storm-- all the other questions, feelings, arguments, had been circling this one point. It was the strange opposite of calm, as if everything was so intense that it had just leveled out again.

Warm arms wrapped around him, and Eddie tensed up before realizing what was happening. Richie was hugging him.

His clothes smelled weird. But nice. Probably it was how the land smelled outside of Eddie’s pool. Eddie wouldn’t know.

His eyes were burning. He tried to swallow down the lump in his throat that rose up, because it was so  _ quiet _ in here and he didn’t want to break the silence by crying and probably making Richie feel really awkward.

It wasn’t fair, and it was so not fair it made Eddie want to scream and sob and throw a tantrum like some toddler over not getting to stay up five minutes more. He held back, though, and pushed it down, because at some level he knew it wasn’t any less fair than what everybody else got. Life wasn’t fair and you just had to deal with it and there was no  _ point  _ in crying when your mom constantly made you feel responsible for the things she did, and you always had to be the one fixing things and listening and taking care of other people and making sure they weren’t upset instead of the other way around. It was just a thing that happened, and Eddie wasn’t going to drag people down just because he was upset, he wasn’t, because he cared about them even if sometimes it felt like they didn’t deserve it. Like  _ she _ didn’t deserve it. It was just the way things went.

She was his mom, after all.

Richie finally pulled away, and Eddie waved a hand in front of his face, before realizing tears didn’t float on land and changing course to scrub at his eyes. Richie’s hand was still resting gently on his arm.

“She sounds like a bitch.”

Despite himself, Eddie laughed. “I guess, kinda.”

Richie just looked at him for a moment, smiling a bit. Eddie gave him a confused smile back. “What?”

Richie shook his head as if breaking out of a spell. “Nothing.” he hesitated. “Are you going to go back?”

Eddie’s smile faded. “What do you mean?”

“To your mom.”

“I mean, I kind of have to.”

“What if you don’t?”

“I do.”

“If you wanted--”

“Look,” Eddie said. “Let’s just-- talk about something else right now?” he cast around the room for a distraction. His bag was behind him, and he reached back to grab it. “Tell me about tagmochis.”

“Tamagotchis,” Richie corrected. “Are you sure?”

“Tamagotchis,” Eddie repeated to himself. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay,” Richie said. “Then we’ll do that.”

“Good,” Eddie said, digging through his bag to pull out the little necklace-thing. Tamagotchi.

Things weren’t… good, exactly. They were temporary. Richie was temporary, and so was Mike and Stan. But Eddie could avoid the future for a little while. Just this once, he could have a little fun. His mom wasn’t around to stop him, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh. it has been a minute.  
> Sorry about the wait, guys, I swear I had most of this chapter written out and then I hit that weird adhd state where you can't do anything ever without feeling extremely unsatisfied and disappointed and tired with it. so. yeah.  
> anyway? I have the rest of the story plotted out but only some scenes written out, so it's anyone's guess as to when the next chapter goes up. Hopefully faster than this one. If anyone has any ideas/headcanons for this world, please do not hesitate to tell me because I am very bad at making chapters long instead of short and in this one especially I like adding padding by way of lore and exploring differences between humans and mermaids.  
> anyway! hope you guys enjoyed :)


	6. Once in a Blue Moon

Bev rubbed her arms. The heat on her skin and scales felt tight and uncomfortable. It was inescapable, the water all around her a suffocating warm. Her tail was sore from swimming so far. They were so far into the deep now that she couldn’t see any light coming from the surface. Around her, spread sparsely across the seafloor, she could see the light of Sea Witch tails.

“I think I see it,” Ben murmured next to her. He was squinting ahead, into the dark. Bev looked where he was looking.

“I don’t see anything.”

“Me neither,” Bill said.

“There’s no horizon line anymore,” Ben said, pointing ahead. Bev looked again. After a moment, she could see it too: vague outlines of billowing steam.

“Thank you, Maturin,” she said. “We’ve been swimming forever.” she kicked her tail harder, pushing forward into the heat.

“Are you sure this is-- safe?” Ben’s voice came from behind her. “I mean, it kind of looks like a Sea Witch only thing.”

“It’s fine,” Bill said. “Juh-just be cool.”

“Maybe not the best choice of words,” Bev shot back over her shoulder. She could make the steam out more clearly now, sending heatwaves up from the water’s surface. She drew to a stop in front of the first formation she saw, a rock mound with a pale crab scuttling across it. Ben and Bill drew up next to her.

“Have you done this before?” Ben said as she dug in her bag for the scissors.

“No. There’s rumors that my mom did.”

Ben and Bill were silent next to her. She didn’t talk about her mom much (read: at all), so they probably were trying to be polite by not prying. It was a pretty obvious silence, though.

“People say she left around Theátos when I was little,” Bev explained, more to fill the silence than to actually explain anything.

Ben’s hand brushed her arm. “You didn’t deserve that.”

Bev gave him a weak smile. “I don’t blame her.”

“Even if you don’t,” Ben pressed.

“Well, I really don’t,” Bev said. “I get why she did it. If I was married to my dad, I’d leave too.”

Ben and Bill looked like they were going to press more at that. She held up the scissors before they could say anything. “Let’s do this.”

She brought the scissors up to her hair.

It only took a couple snips to take the ends off. She could feel her hair floating around her head like a halo, lighter and different now, and she clutched the end strands tight so they wouldn’t drift away. The red was bright in the dim waters.

“Your hair,” Bill said, then stopped. She gave him a questioning look.

“Your hair looks… beautiful, Beverly,” Ben supplied. She blinked. “Oh. Uh, thanks.”

She wasn’t great at taking compliments. But at least that meant she did a good job. Or if she didn’t, at least her friends liked it.

_Most of my friends,_ she reminded herself. _This is for Eddie._

She moved towards the volcanic vent hesitantly. She could hear other vents erupting around her, spewing out rocks and burning billowing steam.

“Do you think it’ll work?” Ben said quietly next to her. He was as nervous as she was.

“It’ll work,” she said, trying to sound more confident than she was. “Siren hair is powerful stuff.”

She stuffed the hair into the volcanic vent before she could think too hard about what she was doing. She snatched her hand back, just as white steam erupted from the vent.

“Okay,” she said, more to herself than anything. She glanced back at Ben and Bill. “Plug your ears.”

They both nodded, scrambling for the earplugs that they’d brought with. Bev turned back to the steam cloud in front of her.

It was a wordless song that she tried to sing as quietly as possible. She’d never heard it before. It seemed to bubble up from within her, a token of her pain and fear ringing through the water. It was more raw and vulnerable than words, more than she’d expected, but once she’d started she couldn’t stop. She could tell it wasn’t finished yet, even though she didn’t know how she knew.

It didn’t bother her anymore that it was dark and she couldn’t see. She closed her eyes, letting the current sway her, feeling the ocean as it flowed and swept, an extension of herself. A mystery, violent and calm all at once.

She opened her eyes, but she didn’t see.

There was a turtle, glittering like the stars, a human boy with glasses. There was Eddie with the boy, laughing. There was sand and water, whipping around her and pelting her so violently it stung. There was a face, looking up from dark waters, white with fearful iridescent painting across it. These flashed by quickly, but each one burned into her mind like she was sitting inside the vent itself.

Then it was over, and there was nothing but darkness again. She could hear voices. Ben and Bill.

“Bev? Bev, you need to wake up--”

“I’m awake,” she said softly. It felt like she hadn’t spoken in a long time.

She blinked, letting her eyes adjust to the dim gloom of the volcanic vents again. She hadn’t moved at all. Ben and Bill were hovering in front of her worriedly.

“I’m fine,” she said. She wasn’t sure if she was. She felt distant, like she’d just woken up from a long sleep. Slightly numb and detached.

“Did you suh-see Eddie?”

She blinked again, thinking back over what she’d seen. “Yeah,” she said. “I did.”

“Where is he?” Ben said, drawing closer. His eyes were wide.

“I… I don’t know.” bitter disappointment crashed into her, so strong she could almost taste it. “It was so… there was so much.”

Ben and Bill traded a worried glance. “What do you mean?” Ben said.

“I…” How could she ever explain it? “I saw him with some human boy. He was laughing. He looked happy.” She looked down at the scissors in her hands. “I need to do it again.”

“No-- no, no you don’t,” Bill said, pulling the scissors out of her hands.

“I do, I need to see where he is--”

“Beverly!” Ben put his hands on her shoulders. “You can’t go again. It’ll hurt you.”

“It’s Theátos anyway, magic is strong now,” Bev said. “Look, this is our only--”

“No it’s not,” Ben said. “We’ll find him, Bev. But you can’t do this again.”

He was right. She couldn’t take it. But she _had_ to. “Like hell I can’t.”

“Bev, we’ll _find_ him,” Ben said. “But don’t you think he’ll want something to come back to? Coming back home and finding out that your only friend is trapped inside her own head is as bad as being gone in the first place.”

He was being earnest. Bev focused on his face and took a shaky breath. “You’re right,” she said. “But I don’t like it.”

“We’ll find him,” Ben said again.

Bev looked away. “We should go back,” she said. “If we’re lucky there’ll still be some food left from the party.”

* * *

The aquarium was different after dark.

It almost looked ethereal, with watery light shining from the exhibits and casting the tiled floor in a blue glow. Richie couldn’t focus too much on how nice it looked, though, because he was busy focusing on not being caught.

He didn’t know who all was in the aquarium at this time of night, but he wasn’t taking chances. He’d picked out a stroller from the front that didn’t have any squeaky wheels, and he stopped at each turn to peek around it and make sure there was no one there. He didn’t have an alibi for if he was caught. He’d make one up on the fly if it came to that. It was a terrible idea, really, but he was fueled by adrenaline and the Mission: Impossible theme playing in his head.

The stroller’s wheels rumbled against the tile floor. Richie sped up. He was in the home stretch now. He paused in front of the swinging doors that lead to Eddie’s room, turning the stroller around so that he could push through and drag it behind him.

The doors swung shut behind him, whacking the stroller a bit, and Richie winced at the loud sound. Nobody came running, though, so after a moment he gently pulled back from the door and wheeled it over to the pool. He crouched down next to the edge.

Eddie was under the water, sleeping. It was hard to see-- his glowy fins were covered in sand, as was most of his body. It was like a sand-blanket, which Richie found incredibly cute and also probably really comfy.

He slapped the surface of the water as hard as he could, making a loud splash. He winced, drawing his hand back, and turned to check the door to listen if anybody heard.

Nobody came. It was silent except for the rippling of the water.

Richie leaned back over the water again. Eddie wasn’t moving. He splashed the water again.

Slowly, he saw Eddie start to stir. The sand shifted off of him until the glow of his fins broke through and lit up the water. Slowly, slowly, Eddie started swimming up.

His head broke the surface. The water around him was lit by the pink glow of his fins. Richie grinned.

“Hey.”

Eddie squinted at him. “Richie, it’s the middle of the night.”

Richie grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Time is a social construct.”

“Well, sleep isn’t,” Eddie said. The biting tone might have been more effective if he didn’t yawn immediately after. Even his yawns were adorable. Cute, cute, cute.

“I wanna show you something,” Richie said, instead of saying that. “C’mon.” He gestured to the stroller.

Eddie frowned at the stroller, moving hesitantly closer to the edge of the pool. “What _is_ that?”

“It’s a stroller,” Richie said. “I took it from the front, there’s-- it’s so I can move you places.”

“Move me,” Eddie said. He didn’t sound convinced.

“Please?” Richie stuck out his lower lip pleadingly. A ghost of a smile flitted across Eddie’s face.

“Ugh, fine,” he said, hoisting himself out of the water. “But then I’m going back to sleep, dickhead.”

Richie grinned broadly. “I’ll take it!”

* * *

Eddie stared around the aquarium as Richie made his way back through. He didn’t comment on anything, but drank it in with wide eyes. It was his first time seeing most of this stuff, Richie realized. He tried to imagine what that would be like, but came up blank.

They reached the main atrium and Eddie’s eyes snapped to the main entrance, which was big and glass and showed an impressive view of the parking lot. He wasn’t looking at the cars, though.

“It’s a blue moon,” Eddie murmured.

“Mermaids know about that stuff?”

“Of course we do,” Eddie said. “Astronomy is-- how do you think we navigate the ocean?”

Richie shrugged, even though he was pushing the stroller and Eddie couldn’t see him. “Uh, the seafloor?”

Eddie snorted. “How deep do you think the sea is?”

“Okay, fair point. But consider this: I didn’t think about it.”

“Ha ha,” Eddie said, but Richie could hear the amusement behind the sarcasm, so he counted it as a win.

The glow of Eddie’s tailfin reflected off the tiles as Richie turned down a darker hallway. “Seriously, where are we going?” Eddie said.

“You’ll see,” Richie singsonged.

“I’m _tired,_ ” Eddie said, flopping his head back against the stroller. He craned his neck to look at Richie. “Do you even--”

“We’re here,” Richie said.

Eddie picked his head up again to see where they were. “It’s… a door.”

“Yeah, and what do you use doors for?” Richie said coaxingly, pulling out Stan’s keys.

He moved up to the door to start trying keys in the lock. 

“Are… we breaking into somewhere?” Eddie said finally.

“No, I already did that,” Richie said. “This is the breaking out.” he finally found the right key and pushed the door open, turning to grin at Eddie. Eddie mostly looked worried.

“Only for a little while,” Richie amended. “Like I said, I wanna show you something.”

He pushed Eddie out of the door and into the warm summer night. Crickets were chirping, cars rumbled in the distance, and water lapped against the concrete.

“It’s… the ocean,” Eddie said cautiously.

“Well, yeah,” Richie said, pushing Eddie closer to the edge, where the ocean met the concrete barrier. “This is the outdoor pool. Where they keep really big animals and stuff. It’s connected to the ocean, but there’s, like, a fence barrier thing that blocks it off from the rest of the ocean.”

Eddie stared at him, confusion splayed across his face.

“We had a beluga whale in here until recently,” Richie continued. “But now she’s gone--”

“Gone?” Eddie’s eyes widened.

“Like, we put her back into the ocean.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, now she’s gone, and I figured you might like…” Richie gestured at the water. “I mean, people would see you in the daytime, but just for a bit.”

Eddie’s face softened, and Richie’s insides melted. “Oh,” Eddie said. “That’s… really nice of you.” He shot Richie a fake-glare. “Though you still should have warned me you were going to wake me up in the middle of the night.”

“Noted,” Richie said. He wasn’t upset about the comment. He could tell Eddie was happy with it, mostly, and that had been the goal in the first place. Richie loved making Eddie happy. He always got this soft surprised look, and then he slowly started smiling, and then he was bouncy and bubbly for the next few hours.

It always made Richie unreasonably excited. Stan had described him as ‘having it bad,’ which was… okay, it was kind of true. Kind of a lot true. But in his defense, who _wouldn’t_ like Eddie?

Richie helped Eddie down from the stroller again and into the water. He watched from the sidelines as Eddie swam through the water, which was bigger than the pool he’d been in. He was going faster than Richie had ever seen him go, just a quick pink streak under the dark waves.

Eventually he surfaced again, and sat next to Richie.

“Hey,” he said breathlessly.

“Hey,” Richie said.

Eddie tilted his head back, grinning to himself.

“You’re fast,” Richie said, for lack of anything better to say.

“I know.” Eddie aimed his grin at Richie now. “It’s one of my better qualities.”

Richie snorted.

“Hey,” Eddie said again, more serious this time. “Thank you for this.”

“It’s no problem,” Richie said, feeling the butterflies explode in his chest.

“Somehow I doubt that,” Eddie said, then rushed forward before Richie could object. “Really, thank you. There’s… I mean, there’s this big celebration thing going on right now, back where I live. I was planning on trying to sleep through it, but… this is good too.”

Richie bit his lip, studying Eddie. Sometimes it was hard to tell whether he wanted to talk or whether he wanted to avoid a subject at all costs. “A celebration?” he said tentatively.

Eddie frowned. “Yeah. It’s…” he swished his tail in the water, biting his lip. “The blue moon is kind of a big deal to mermaids. Right now in Pela’sogles there’ll be a celebration going on. Lots of food. Stories. It’s called Theátos. The new year.”

“But blue moons don’t happen every year.”

Eddie laughed and nudged Richie with his shoulder. “Well, years are a social construct.”

“Oh, right,” Richie said, grinning. Eddie grinned back, illuminated by moonlight.

“It’s the day of the year that magic is strongest,” Eddie said. “Traditionally there’s a lot of displays of magic. It’s supposed to be the one time in the year that sea witches are trustworthy.”

“What, really?” Richie said. He nudged Eddie’s tail with his foot. “You seem pretty trustworthy.”

“Well, people are afraid,” Eddie said. “It’s the same deal with sirens.”

“That sucks,” Richie said. “None of them know how cool you are.”

“On the blue moon they do,” Eddie said, staring out at the sea. “I’d usually entertain the little kids. With, like, fun little spells and stuff. And they’d always be so excited.”

He was smiling, but it looked faded and small, like it might break any second. Richie cast around his brain for something to say.

“So… during your celebration thing-- Theatos?”

“Theátos,” Eddie corrected patiently.

“That’s what I said.”

Eddie snorted. “No, it’s not.”

“Theatos?”

“The- _á-_ tos.”

“The-a-tos.”

“Close enough,” Eddie said, smiling over at Richie.

“Right, so during… that, what are you celebrating exactly?”

Eddie swished his tail in the water. “It’s the renewal of magic,” he said in a way that sounded practiced. “Magic is connected to the tides, and gravity, and magnets, and stuff like that. On the blue moon, it’s at the strongest point it can be. So we thank the gods who granted us our powers-- Selene and Hecate-- and we also honor Maturin, who sets things right.”

Richie blinked. “Wow.”

Eddie snorted. “I told you it’s a big deal.”

Richie studied Eddie. Even though Richie knew he was a powerful sea witch or whatever, he mostly just seemed normal. It was hard to connect the two ideas in his brain.

“What about you,” Eddie said, after the silence had stretched for a bit. “What’s human new years, if it’s not on the blue moon?”

“Oh.” Richie looked out at the moonlight rippling on the ocean waves. “Um, it depends on the humans. For me it’s in January.”

“What’s January?”

“January is… um, actually, that’s pretty complicated.”

Eddie huffed. “Okay then. What about traditions?”

“Why do you wanna know?” Richie said. “I’m pretty sure I can’t top yours.”

“I bet you can,” Eddie said. “I like human stuff, remember? C’mon.” His lips quirked up in a smile. Cute and pink.

Oh boy. Okay.

“Humans have this tradition on new year’s,” Richie began. “You wait until midnight, because that’s when the new day and the new year begins. And then you kiss your-- boyfriend, or girlfriend, or whoever. So that, like, the first thing you do on New Year’s is a good thing.”

“Oh,” Eddie said. “That’s sweet. Mermaids don’t do anything like that.”

“You mean, for celebrations? Or you just don’t kiss each other?”

“Mermaids kiss about as much as humans,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes. “Or, I mean, some types do. My types.” His voice was soft, and he was watching Richie carefully.

“So, have you ever… kissed someone before?”

“No,” Eddie said. “You know, I’m pretty plain by mermaid standards.”

Richie pulled back and squinted at Eddie. The tips of his tail glowed pink, and his hair was starting to curl as it dried. The yellow moonlight created a golden halo on his head.

“Yeah, I don’t see it,” he said. “If you’re a plain mermaid, looking at a pretty mermaid would probably give me a heart attack. You’re beautiful.”

Eddie shoved Richie, and looked away grinning. “I’m not. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “You should see Bev. She probably would give you a heart attack.”

“I doubt it,” Richie said.

Eddie’s grin faded, and he studied Richie. “You know, there’s a saying among mermaids. Well, more sirens, but it’s spread a bit. _Zegos antropos e’co lagnei faelo._ ”

“And what does it mean?”

“Humans will fall for the first thing with scales.” Eddie sounded teasing, but his grin didn’t reach his eyes. Richie shot Eddie what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“I work at an aquarium, Eds, I can assure you I have definitely seen scales before. You don’t see me wanting to fuck a lionfish just because it’s pretty.”

“Aren’t lionfish poisonous to humans?”

“Yep,” Richie said. “See, I’ve got standards. Nothing that will kill me.”

“Pretty low standards,” Eddie said.

“Well, I think when you meet the right person it doesn’t matter what standards you’ve got,” Richie said. “You just wanna be with them. No matter the obstacles.”

“And that’s also sweet,” Eddie said, voice gentle. “But I think… maybe if the obstacles are too big, it’s better to not be with them. Because then when they have to leave, it’ll hurt less. Even if they like you back.”

The night was silent, save for the lapping of the water against the land and the chirping of crickets in the grass. Richie bit his lip.

“Okay, to be clear, we’re talking about you and me, right?”

Eddie blinked. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I mean, unless you didn’t mean--”

“No! No, I mean, I meant-- I like you,” Richie said. “Like, a lot.”

“Oh,” Eddie said, eyes wide. Before he could say anything else, Richie rushed on.

“But, I mean, it’s okay if you don’t wanna do anything, because I get it. You’ve got, like, a whole world down there waiting for you, and I’ve got a world up here, and I get it. But you should just-- know, okay? I think you’re amazing.” Richie looked away, hoping the dark of the night would mask his blush. “And really smart, and cute, and enthusiastic, and beautiful, and brave. So-- just in case you didn’t know that.”

It was quiet.

The crickets chirped, which almost made Richie laugh. He didn’t, though, because Eddie was just staring at him, and not saying anything, and he was starting to think he fucked up.

Eddie kissed him.

It was a sudden thing, and Richie barely had time to react before Eddie was pulling away again, looking stern. “That’s the only one,” he said.

“What? But I barely got a chance to kiss back!”

Eddie rolled his eyes and looked away towards the waters, pursing his lips. He looked torn.

“I mean, you don’t have to-- forget I said anything,” Richie said, pulling back from Eddie.

Eddie looked back at him and shook his head slightly, smiling. “Richie. Come on.”

“Um?” Richie said.

Eddie leaned forward, slower this time, and kissed him again. This time, he didn’t pull away.

_Oh._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooooo... that happened  
> 2 things:  
> 1\. Bev's haircut is not that good because it doesn't make sense for it to be good, however, I imagine bad haircuts are more forgiving when you're underwater. Also, it's up to you how much hair she cut off. I have to admit I wasn't imagining her with her long beginning-movie haircut for the chapters beforehand.  
> 2\. I did the math and in mermaid years Eddie is around six. You don't need to know that but I think it's amusing.  
> anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed!


	7. Stirring

The first warning came only a few days after their first kiss. 

Richie had been talking about his parents’ boat (which was apparently wrecked in the storm, and he was technically grounded other than work because of it), and how if he still had it, he could go out into the ocean with Eddie.

“Like, for an afternoon,” Richie clarified, after Eddie gave him a look. “I could bring sandwiches… or sushi, have you ever had sushi? It’d be fun.” He hesitated. “Like a date.”

Eddie blinked. “Oh.” He looked away, grinning. “That does sound fun.”

Really, pretty much anything with Richie as part of it would be fun to Eddie, simply because Richie was fun. Richie listened when he talked and added on and made things more interesting, and he was always bringing Eddie things and showing him things that he thought would be interesting, and pretty much everything about it was _fun._ Dating him, as a boyfriend, was even more fun, even if he sometimes laid awake at night wondering how he could be so reckless. It was easy to forget that he had any problems whatsoever when he was around Richie. And the others, too, but especially Richie had a way of calming him down.

“Yeah.” Richie grinned back at him. “It’s too bad the boat was wrecked, though. I’ll have to find a different one. How much do you think it is to rent one?”

“I have absolutely no concept of human money.”

“Oh. Right.” Richie mulled it over. “It’s probably expensive.”

“Probably,” Eddie said. He hesitated. “You know, we don’t have to go out on the ocean to have fun.”

Richie wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh, really? Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Eddie made a face. “Well, now I’m afraid to answer.”

“So mean.” Richie grinned at him, swooping down to kiss him on the cheek. Eddie tried to look stern, but failed miserably. There was just something about Richie’s smile that made him melt-- or maybe it was the fact that Richie was smiling at _him,_ and kissing _him,_ that made him kind of giddy and melty. It was a toss-up, really.

Eddie turned to kiss back-- on the lips this time, not just a cheek kiss. It was something new they’d been doing kind of a lot lately. It definitely made things on land less boring.

“Ugh, get a room,” Stan’s voice said from across the room. Eddie and Richie jumped apart.

“Jeez, Stan,” Richie said. “If you’re jealous, we’ll have a three-way with you. You just need to ask. Just say the word--”

“I have a girlfriend,” Stan said. “And we’re very happy, and also, how would--” he stopped himself, eyes lingering on Eddie’s tail, and apparently decided he didn’t want to know. Richie would probably come up with something, given the opening in the conversation.

“Anyway,” Stan said after a pregnant pause. “Weren’t you going to go do that thing?”

Richie blinked at him. “The… thing.”

Stan sighed. “The thing. In the place. It’s open right now.”

Richie lit up in sudden understanding. “Oh! The thing!”

Eddie glanced between the two, waiting for someone to explain. Neither of them seemed like they were going to. “What thing?”

“Oh, it’s a thing at a place,” Richie said, clambering to his feet. “Rain check?”

Eddie raised his eyebrows incredulously. “What’s a rain check?”

“It means I’ll see you later!” Richie called, already out the door.

Eddie stared after him as the door swung shut. He turned to Stan for an explanation.

Stan just shrugged. “Richie is an idiot,” he said. “You know that. He’s a smart idiot, but an idiot.” With that, he turned to leave.

“Yeah, but what’s the--” Stan had already left. “thing.”

Eddie stared at the door, biting his lip.

He knew he shouldn’t be worried. Just… he was worried. He didn’t think Richie would cheat on him or do anything horrible like that-- he wouldn’t, would he? He wouldn’t. _He_ _wouldn’t,_ Eddie told himself. _He’s too nice for that._

But still. He hated being alone in the pool. He didn’t have much to do except think, and when he started thinking, he started thinking about his mom, and about Bev and Bill, and about how he’d eventually have to leave. He couldn’t keep pretending forever. Maybe if it was just his mom that he’d left behind. And even then, that was a big maybe-- it was his _mom,_ after all, no matter how bad she was at being a mom. She still loved him.

But either way, it wasn’t just his mom that he’d left behind. It was Bev and Bill, and they were probably freaking out. Eddie couldn’t just leave them like that, without letting them know, well, anything.

Ugh.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was depending on Richie. Richie had a way of making it feel like everything would be alright, and everything would be worth it, and everything would work out in the end. That was something Eddie wasn’t great at believing on his own.

A sharp cracking noise brought Eddie out of his thoughts-- he jumped, head whipping around to the source. It had come from his bag, lying right next to him.

Hesitantly, he tugged the bag open, then snatched his hand back.

Nothing happened.

He lifted the bag, peering into it. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Everything was just normal. He reached in, slowly and carefully, and started rustling around his things.

It was almost immediately that he noticed the difference. Buried under rope tangles and sea glass and his now-empty clam shells, his soul stone was burning hot.

* * *

“Eddie Spaghetti!” Richie slammed the door open, making Eddie jump. “Guess what?” he sing-songed, practically bouncing in.

“What?” Eddie said, not looking directly at him.

“You have to guess!”

Eddie sighed, a wave of annoyance rising inside him. Normally Richie could cheer him up, but right now he wasn’t in the mood for guessing games and joking around. _Richie should be able to see that,_ he thought, and then pushed the thought away. He wasn’t a mind reader.

It was still annoying.

“My guess is what.”

“Well, you’re wrong,” Richie said, plopping down next to Eddie. Eddie swished his tail hard under the water, but kept the surface calm. “Didja miss me? I would’ve been here, but--”

“You were doing the _thing_ at the _place._ ”

“Yeah,” Richie said, looking a little caught off guard. “Hey, you know I didn’t-- I mean, I wasn’t--”

“I know you weren’t,” Eddie cut in before he could explain. And maybe he was being a little sharper than normal. So sue him.

He still felt a little guilty when Richie didn’t answer him right away. He pushed the feeling down, resolutely not looking at Richie’s face.

“...Okay,” Richie said slowly. “So, you know how I’m grounded?”

“Yeah.”

“And you know how you’re always complaining about stuff not working underwater?”

Eddie swished his tail jerkily under the water. “Yeah.”

“So, I found out that they’re selling waterproof flashlights at the Cave, which is like just across the street--”

“I don’t know what a street is.”

“It’s…” Richie waved his hands in the air before letting them drop in defeat. “Nearby.”

Eddie waited in silence. Richie didn’t continue. “So?” Eddie said.

“So I wanted to surprise you,” Richie said, sounding shyer than Eddie was used to hearing him. “But I’m grounded, so I did it on my break. That was the thing in the place.”

Eddie looked over at Richie for the first time in the conversation. He was holding out a thin black flashlight like a peace offering.

Richie really was too good for him.

Eddie blinked furiously, trying to squash down the stinging that sprung to his eyes. It didn't work, and his vision was getting dangerously blurry.

“Um, okay,” Richie said, sounding slightly panicked. “That’s not the reaction I was--”

Eddie cut him off by kissing him.

It was maybe not the best idea to go around kissing someone that you knew it wouldn’t work out with, but that hadn’t stopped Eddie before. And in his defense, Richie was so… _Richie._

Eddie broke away from the kiss and pulled Richie into a hug. “Um, okay,” Richie said. “This is a pretty confusing response, you know that?”

“I love it,” Eddie said. “You’re so amazing, I hate it.”

“Um. Thanks?”

Eddie pulled out of the hug and took a shaky breath. “I’m sorry for being mad,” he said in the direction of Richie’s shirt. “I just… I don’t know. That wasn’t fair.”

“It’s fine,” Richie said. “Lots of people don’t like surprises. My mom doesn’t like surprises. Remind me to tell you about her surprise birthday sometime, holy shit.”

Eddie smiled for a half-second before dropping back into serious mode. “I have bad news.”

There. It was out in the open now. No turning back. 

This was the ending.

“Okay?” Richie said. Hesitant. Eddie looked away.

“I need to go back,” Eddie said. He said it so softly that he wasn’t sure Richie had heard him at first. But then, after a beat, Richie responded. “I know.”

Things were quiet after that. Eddie waited in the silence for Richie to say something, but he didn’t.

“My mom is getting impatient,” he said instead. Richie shifted next to him.

“How do you know?”

Eddie shuffled around in his bag and pulled out the stone in question. “It’s a soul stone,” he said, holding it out for Richie to examine.

Its normally shiny surface was marred by a creeping black roughness, as if it was rotting slowly, or something was growing on it. It’s iridescent glowing was faded, so that it barely cast a light reflection in his hand as he held it out for Richie to take.

“Okay,” Richie said, taking the stone. “You… know I don’t know what that means, right?”

“It’s… like a monitor,” Eddie said. “Like the… camera things you told me about?”

“Security cameras?”

“Yeah.” Eddie looked away, tracing his scales. “You tell it something near to your heart, something you care about a lot, and it monitors that thing. And if that thing is in danger, well…” he gestured to the rock.

Richie traced the creeping blackness that swirled on the stone. “This isn’t normal?”

“Yeah.” Eddie bit his lip. “It’s monitoring Pela’sogles. And my friends down there. And-- I mean, you know I want to stay here with you, but--”

“I get it,” Richie interrupted. “You have friends back home. You have a whole life there.”

“I’m just worried,” Eddie said, feeling the need to explain himself like a fishhook around his middle. “If something happened to innocent people because of me…”

Richie sighed. It sounded exasperated, but he was looking at Eddie fondly. “You’re too good,” he said. “It’s fine, Eddie. I get it.”

Somehow, Eddie wasn’t as relieved as he probably should have been.

* * *

They decided to take Eddie to the pier, which would get him out into deeper waters without having to fight the waves at the beach or avoid being seen by swimmers. They took Stan’s car, a sensible, tidy sedan.

“My girlfriend calls it the Sedanley,” Stan said, obviously trying to lighten the mood. Richie gave him a half-smile, because it was a good pun. “I think I’d like your girlfriend.”

Stan made a face. “God, probably.”

Eddie laughed at that, a small laugh that faded quickly. He was studying the car intensely, not meeting Richie’s eyes. That was fine. It was fine. Everything was fine.

“Hey, Eds, you wanna know how a car works?” Richie blurted, before he could get too lost in his thoughts. Eddie looked over at him as if Richie had just offered to die for him.

“Okay,” Eddie said softly. “Tell me.”

The rest of the car ride went by quickly after that. Richie outlined in detail as much as he could about cars, which was admittedly pretty basic-- he wasn’t a mechanic or anything. Stan and Mike chimed in occasionally, but mostly left the two of them alone. Richie was grateful for that, at least. But before he knew it, they were in the parking lot, the pier stretching out in front of them.

“We’re here,” Mike said gently, pushing open the passenger door.

Eddie took a shaky breath. “Right. Okay.”

They made it down to the beach too soon. Even carrying Eddie, who was surprisingly heavy, it felt like less than a second had passed. And suddenly they were on the pier, and there wasn’t time to ignore what was happening any longer.

Richie sat Eddie down on the edge of the pier, so his tail was dangling in the water. It was a familiar sight, but so different at the same time. He studied Eddie’s face, trying to memorize every last bit of it before he left.

“Do you think…” Richie began, then stopped. _Do you think we’ll ever see each other again_ was what he wanted to say. But that wasn’t fair. He couldn’t expect Eddie to cling to something he’d never be able to fully have.

“The beach,” Eddie said. He reached out a hand and cupped Richie’s cheek. “The one I dragged you to after the storm, because you were terrible at being in water.”

Richie halfway smiled, putting his hand over Eddie's. “What about it?”

“I’ll meet you there,” Eddie said. “Just-- give me a couple days, and I’ll meet you there.” he smiled, and his eyes were filling with tears. “Obstacles don’t matter, right?”

Richie nodded. “Yeah,” he said. His voice was shaky. “Yeah. I can wait.”

Eddie leaned forward and kissed him. The what-if still lingered in the back of Richie’s mind, but it was muted in the face of hope. Maybe they would see each other again. Only _maybe,_ but maybe was enough.

“Seriously? Right in front of my salad?” Stan said from behind them. Richie had to break out of the kiss to laugh.

“Shut up, Stan, we’re having a moment,” he said.

“I get that,” Stan said, and he did sound like he got it. “But you know this is a public area. Sooner or later, someone’s gonna come along and see Eddie’s tail.”

“He’s right,” Eddie said softly. “I should go.” He turned towards the water lapping at the edge of the pier.

“Hey,” Stan said. Eddie stopped and turned back, and Stan smiled at him. “We better see you, too. I know Richie’s your boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t your friends.”

“Yeah,” Mike added. “You can’t get away from us that easy.”

Eddie smiled at them, warm and genuine. “Definitely.” He hesitated. “Thank you guys… for everything.”

“That’s what friends do,” Mike said. Eddie gave them all one last smile, then slid off the edge of the dock, disappearing into the water.

* * *

_Give me a couple days,_ Eddie had said. And Richie did, even though he was constantly thinking about Eddie. When your mermaid sort-of boyfriend disappears into the depths of the sea and promises to meet in secret with you on the beach where you first met (sort of), that tended to happen. Or, Richie would assume so. He wasn’t sure this scenario had actually happened to anyone else.

Anyway, the point was, he was being patient. He still went to the beach every day, but he tried not to get upset when Eddie wasn’t there. And he wasn’t. 

There, that is.

His mom had started asking him about it, asking where he went every night. He’d told her the beach and she asked if he was going to meet up with a girl.

“Ugh, no,” Richie had said, wrinkling his nose. “I’m not doing it on a beach, mom, the sand would get everywhere.”

“It concerns me that that’s your only concern,” she said. “Though I guess I can’t blame you. Your dad and I--”

Richie had left then.

The days passed slowly. He had a sunburn from going out to the beach so often. It wasn’t too noticeably red yet, but it stung whenever he touched it or went out into the sun.

The waves were crashing on the beach. The seagulls squawked. It was by no means quiet at Hammond Beach, but when you’re trying to listen for a specific sound, everything else fades into the background. To Richie, the beach was near-silent.

“Hey,” a voice said from behind him. Stan’s voice, Richie could tell even before turning around.

“Hey.”

Stan came up and sat down next to him on the warm sand. Mike was there next to him, and they both looked at Richie like he might break down or something. Which he wasn’t going to.

“Why are you here?” Richie said, trying for a normal voice.

“Figured you shouldn’t have to wait alone,” Mike said.

“You know, if Eddie does show up today, you might not wanna be around to see what happens next,” Richie started. “I mean--”

“Ew. No. Do not finish that sentence,” Stan said, putting a hand up. Richie grinned a bit at his obvious disgust. Then Stan softened. “Do you really think he’s coming today?”

Richie hesitated. “Maybe not today. He’ll come sometime.”

“Richie…” Stan said.

“Shut up. I know,” Richie said. And he really did. He couldn’t keep waiting like this, couldn’t keep getting his hopes up only for them to be crushed again. But he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Or to believe it.

“I just… I worry,” he said, because it was easier than saying the truth.

He could tell that Mike and Stan understood, though, even without him telling them. They glanced at each other as if gauging what to say next.

“We worry too,” Stan said.

“He could be in trouble,” Richie said.

“I know.”

“Or maybe he’s stuck with his mom. You know, she’s really terrible to him.”

“I know.”

“You don’t believe me.”

Stan hesitated, glancing to Mike for guidance.

Richie wasn’t paying attention anymore. He stood suddenly, squinting out at the water. There was something…

Three heads poked out of the waves, one after another. A redhead girl and two boys. None of them were Eddie, but they were looking straight at Richie like they knew him.

“Hey!” The redhead called. “You’re Richie, right?”

“Yeah-- yes?” Richie moved forward, to the edge of the water.

“I’m Bev,” the mermaid said. She gestured to the people next to her. “That’s Ben, and that’s Bill. We’re here about Eddie.”

Something cold clenched Richie’s chest tight. “What’s-- is he in trouble?”

The mermaids exchanged looks.

Richie crouched down at the edge of the waves. “What? What is it?”

The chubby one-- Ben-- opened his mouth first. “Yeah,” he said. “We don’t know specifics. Things are… kind of weird right now. But yeah, he’s in trouble.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY  
> So as I'm sure you've noticed, it's been a while since I last updated. I've got lots of projects going on right now for school, as well as some personal stuff. I need to take a hiatus, but I wanted to get this chapter to you instead of making an announcement chapter. So that's why this chapter took so long.  
> I'm honestly so sorry to leave you guys on a cliffhanger like that but I don't think I'll be able to write any more for this until around May 1, maybe a few days after that, so I'm taking a hiatus until then. Sorry.  
> I promise you I will be back to finish this story, though! I've got the whole thing planned out, I'm not stopping in the middle!
> 
> TL;DR: This story is going on hiatus until May 1


	8. What Happened

Eddie was still missing.

Bev knew this, like she knew lots of things now-- never enough things, and always just fragments. Ever since visiting the volcanic vents, she’d been having dreams that were more than dreams, that felt like she was back there again having visions. She’d wake up in the night, skin prickling with heat, and try to note down the flashes she’d seen before she forgot them.

She’d known this was going to happen when she’d gone to the vents. Still, she’d been unprepared for just how disconcerting it was, to suddenly  _ know _ things. More things than most people knew, even if it was just a vague idea.

There were whispers around Pela’sogles, now. Now that Eddie was missing, something was… wrong. It wasn’t just that Henry Bowers was being more demented than usual, although there was that. It was something more, a kind of tension. A change in the current, swelling like there was a storm coming.

Or, no. Not coming-- something was  _ here. _

Bev had only the shadowy flashes to tell her what it was, but whatever it was scared her. Nobody else knew what was here, and she couldn’t warn them. She wasn’t even sure what it was herself. But whenever she pictured that pale white face staring at her out of the dark, she felt an inexplicable sense of dread.

She had no idea what to do about it, was the problem. Even if she had any helpful information about that thing, like what it was or where to find it, nobody would listen to a siren. ‘Silver tongue’ and all that.

Besides, she had her own problems to deal with.

Bill was going to be in the center of town today, near the statue of Selene. That was where she was headed, she and Ben, who she’d picked up on the way but hadn’t explained anything to yet.

He was being patient and not saying much as they swam together, which was nice. She’d have grabbed his hand to pull him along faster, but she didn’t like to get too touchy with her friends in the middle of town. People talked.

The statue of Selene was centered in a bustling market, though less bustling given it had just been Theátos a few days ago. Everyone was probably still eating leftovers.

She spotted Bill across the square, trailing behind his parents with his little brother Georgie. “There,” she said to Ben, not pointing but jerking her head a bit. “Come on.”

“Wait, so what are we doing?” Ben said as Bev started forward again. “Is this-- something to do with--”

“Yep,” Bev said.

She hadn’t been too open about her visions. She wasn’t sure what she’d say about them in the first place, and even if she did they were so unsettling that she was reluctant to try to describe the feeling. Ben and Bill had, for the most part, respected that, although she could tell they were curious.

“Bill!” she called out, drawing nearer. Bill waved at her.

“Bevvy!” Georgie cried as she drew closer. “Guess what? We’re gonna have epidecos today!”

“Wow,” Bev said, widening her eyes. “That’s super special.”

“Right?” Georgie wiggled in place, doing a little dance.

Bev smiled at him, hoping the anxiety stirring in her chest didn’t show through. She turned to Bill. “Listen,” she said lowly. “You can’t let him play outside today.”

Bill blinked at her. “Um, what?”

“Who’s him?” Georgie piped up. Bev sent a pleading glance at Ben, who took the hint and turned to Georgie. “Hey Georgie, is it a special occasion, or are you having epidecos for no reason?”

With Georgie sufficiently distracted, Bev turned back to Bill. “Don’t let Georgie play outside today,” she said. “I had this-- vision, and I’m pretty sure it happens today. If he goes outside, something terrible will happen to him.”

Bill’s eyebrows drew together. “Like what,” he said softly.

“I-- I don’t know, exactly,” Bev said. “Just, trust me. If he goes outside, make sure someone is with him.”

Bill stared at her, shaken.

“It’ll be fine,” she said, touching his shoulder softly. She wasn’t the best at comfort, usually that was Eddie’s thing. But since he wasn’t here… “Just keep him inside, okay? Everything’ll be fine.”

Bill nodded once. “Oh-okay,” he said. “I can do thu-thu-that.”

“Good,” she said. “And… there’s another thing.” Bill gave her a dubious look. She hesitated before plowing forward.

“Can you meet me at the west edge of town tomorrow morning? Early, before everyone’s awake.”

If anything, Bill looked more dubious at that. “Why?”

“I,” Bev glanced at Georgie, and at Bill’s parents, just a couple paces away looking at food. “I think that’s when Eddie is coming back.”

* * *

After so much time in a human pool, Eddie had to admit, it was nice to be back in ocean water.

The water just felt fuller there, and the light less harsh. The currents, which had been nonexistent in the pool, tugged and swayed him like a lullaby. Even the sand, which he’d never noticed much before, now seemed almost comforting in a way.

That was the small plus side to all this, if there was any.

Eddie drifted along the ocean floor, idly scanning for anything that might be interesting. There was lots of stuff down here, more than usual. Probably because of the storm picking everything up and resettling it. Weaker pieces of seaweed drifted in the current, uprooted, and broken bits of coral sat half-buried in the sand. He made sure to avoid those. He didn’t need another scratch when he’d just healed from his last injury. 

He’d already found three pieces of twine, unused and unknotted, unlike the ones in his bag. That was a good find, and a comforting thought.

He was still working on them, twisting the spells into the string and trapping them in knots at each end so they wouldn’t float away. It was nice to have something to do with his hands, get out the nervous energy, and they’d be useful to him later.

He could see the lights of Pela’sogles ahead of him. If he moved fast, he’d be there in less than ten minutes.

He wasn’t moving fast.

He was sure his mom already knew he was coming, anyway. Better to have time to prepare, right? 

Right.

“Eddie!” a voice cried, and he tensed, thinking at first that his mom had come out of town to greet him. But then his mind caught up, and he realized it was a voice he recognized.

“Bev,” he breathed, flicking his tail and shooting forward, towards the familiar figure framed in watery beams of light. Bill was next to her, along with a chubby boy Eddie didn’t recognize. It didn’t matter. Bev was waving at him and grinning, and he launched into her arms.

She buried her face in his shoulder. “Oh my god,” she said. “You’re okay, oh my god.”

Something warm melted in his chest. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed his friends, how worried he’d been about them. Now he was here, and the relief of seeing them again crashed over him full-force.

“Um, okay,” he said. “I missed you too.”

Bill swam up to them, along with the boy Eddie didn’t know. “Where have you been?” he demanded. “Wuh-we’ve all--”

“We’ve been worried sick,” Bev completed, pulling back and beaming at him. “Are you okay? Where  _ were _ you? We went to the  _ vents _ for you and we still couldn’t find--”

“Wait, you went to the  _ vents? _ ” Eddie said. “Bev, that is  _ so _ dangerous, oh my God.”

“We were careful,” Bev said. Bill gave her a look. “Well…”

Bev ignored him. “Oh my God, you don’t even know Ben yet,” she continued, lighting up. She tugged the chubby boy towards her. “Eddie, this is Ben. He’s new in town and he’s been helping us look for you. Ben, Eddie.”

“Uh, nice to meet you,” Ben said, looking somewhat overwhelmed at being so close to Beverly. Eddie glanced between the two of them, filing that away for later.

“Nice to meet you too,” he said. “Uh, thanks for… looking for me, I guess?”

“It was no problem,” Ben said.

“Ben was really helpful,” Bev interjected. She let go of his arm. “Seriously, where were you?”

“It’s… a long story,” Eddie said, thinking of Richie and the way he smiled. He didn’t want to have to explain it all, not yet. He was pretty sure he’d start crying or panicking over how complicated his situation was right now.

_ One step at a time, _ he reminded himself. Right now, his friends. Then later, everything else.

Bev gave him a strange look. “I need to show you something,” she said.

“Okay?”

“Alone,” she said, looking pointedly at Ben and Bill. Eddie glanced between them. A silent understanding seemed to pass through them. Something twisted in Eddie’s chest.

“C’mon,” Bev said, before he could dwell on it too much. She grabbed his hand and tugged him away, heading for a cluster of rocks near the edge of town.

“What was  _ that _ about,” Eddie said once they were out of earshot of the other two. Bev gave him the same strange look from before. “C’mon,” she said again.

They drew to a stop near the rock gathering. Bev studied him, frowning.

“ _ What? _ ” Eddie demanded. “Bev, would you just--”

“I know you were with those humans,” Bev said, and Eddie stopped.

“How did you--”

“We went to the vents.”

_ Oh. _ Something tightened in his chest. Eddie clutched the twine circles in his hands more tightly, trying to think. “What did… how much did you see?”

“Not much,” Bev said. “It’s-- it’s all messed up in my head, it’s hard to tell what happened where or why-- but I saw you, like, laughing with them.”

Vague guilt stirred in Eddie’s chest. She must think he’d forgotten her, that he’d replaced her. “Bev--”

“Don’t,” she said, putting a hand up. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. I’m glad you were safe. But I’m worried you’ll do something stupid.”

Eddie glanced down at his twine involuntarily. Bev pursed her lips. “That’s what I thought.”

“You don’t know what it was  _ like, _ ” Eddie said. Pleading. “Bev, humans are so different than people say they are, they’re amazing--”

“You have a crush, don’t you.” 

He stopped, and Bev’s smile grew.

Eddie opened his mouth, and then closed it again. His face felt hot. “You’re one to talk,” he said. “You-- and Ben?” 

Stumbling over his words didn’t really help the accusatory tone. Bev just raised an eyebrow at him. “Maybe,” she said. “But having a crush on a human is a different whale altogether, Eddie.”

Eddie looked away, face burning. “It’s not just a crush,” he mumbled.

Bev squinted at him. “You’re… in love with him?”

“That’s,” Eddie fidgeted. “Um, that’s not what I meant,” he said. “He’s… my boyfriend.”

A pause. “I’m sorry, he’s your  _ what? _ ”

Eddie groaned. “Look, Bev, I know how it sounds, but--”

“Wait, let me finish,” Bev said. “Um, just let me process. You were gone for like a week, and you scored a boyfriend?”

Eddie shrugged. His face was still hot. He wished they would talk about something else, anything else than Richie.

“A human boyfriend,” Bev said, eyes wide. “Okay. If you like him I like him. But how is that going to work?”

Eddie grimaced. He’d been asking himself the same thing ever since he’d made his promise to Richie. Hell, even before that. Hearing it from Beverly was different, though, a manifestation of all his anxiety. 

_ One day this will all be okay and you’ll be with Richie and it’ll be great, _ Eddie reminded himself. It was his mantra, the way he could push himself to keep going with his frankly insane idea.

“Right. I kind of… promised him I’d go back. That I’d see him again. But I need--” he looked away, fidgeting with the straps of his bag. “I need to talk to my mom first.”

Bev was quiet. Eddie chanced a glance at her.

“You’re going to leave again,” she said. Incredulous.

“No,” Eddie rushed to say. “No, no Bev, not like that. I… I’m still figuring it out, but I wouldn’t just leave you behind like that.” He looked at her, trying to inject comfort into his words. “You’re still my best friend.”

Bev studied him. “You really care about him.”

“I… yeah. I do.” Eddie fidgeted a bit.

“Okay,” Bev said. “Tell me what I need to do.”

Eddie hesitated. “Bev, are you sure--”

“Stop,” she said softly, smiling at him. “You found something better than your shitty mom, I’m not going to stop you from going after it. You’d do the same for me.”

“I’m not just going to leave you alone,” Eddie promised. “We’ll get you away from your dad.”

Bev smiled sadly at him. “I know,” she said. “You’d do anything for the people you care about. Now, tell me what I need to do.”

Eddie handed her his bag and the loops of twine. “Keep my bag,” he said. “For now. I need to talk to my mom.”

Bev raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t comment. “What’s the rope for?”

“It’s not a finished spell yet,” Eddie said. “Right now, it helps you breathe underwater. Twenty-four hours.”

Bev frowned at him, and he wasn’t sure what she was thinking. “Okay,” she said. “When will you be back?”

“I… don’t know,” Eddie said. “Hopefully in a couple hours. I’ll see you then?”

Bev was quiet for a long moment. “Yeah,” she said.

He hugged her, and she hugged back, squeezing tight.

“You know, you don’t owe her anything,” Bev said, breaking away.

There were lots of ways he could have answered that, such as  _ this isn’t for her _ or  _ she’s not a monster _ or  _ I still need answers _ or the ever-present argument of  _ she’s my mom. _ He didn’t say any of that. “I know.”

He pulled away and started to swim, back towards the lights of Pela’sogles. Dread curled in his stomach.

“Eddie,” she called after him. He turned. She was giving him that same weird look from before, as if she could see his future and it didn’t look good. “Be careful. Things have been… strange, lately.”

Eddie gave her a smile, covering up the unease that stirred in his chest. “You know me,” he said. “Always careful.”

* * *

His mom was waiting at the entrance of the cave, staring desperately at him as soon as he got close enough to see. She had known he was coming, then. The thought sent a chill through his body-- how often did she spy on him? How much did she know?

“ _ Eddie, _ ” she cried, bracing a hand against the entrance to the cave. She looked hysterical, as if no time had passed at all since he’d left, like she’d been waiting here at the entrance crying for him to come back this whole time. “You came back. Oh, thank god, I  _ knew  _ you’d come back to me.”

She pulled him tight into a hug, squeezing him against her chest. He held still and didn’t squirm out of it until she finally decided to pull away, hands on his shoulders.

“Where have you  _ been, _ ” she sobbed. “I wasn’t able to find you for the  _ longest time, _ Eddie, I thought you might have  _ died-- _ that was  _ so _ dangerous, what you did--”

“I know,” Eddie interrupted, firmly pulling himself out of her grip. He softened his voice. “I know, ma.”

“It’s alright,” his mother said softly, cupping his face. “As long as you know, as long as you understand what a mistake that was now--”

“No,” Eddie said forcefully, anger swelling. “That’s not--” he paused, not knowing what to say next. Maybe it had been reckless, yes, but not a  _ mistake. _ Not when he’d met amazing people and learned amazing things, maybe more than any mermaid had ever known. And  _ Richie-- _

“Not a mistake?” she said, fragile as glass and just as ready to cut. Dread curled in his gut. “You  _ left _ me.” her face crumpled. “You left me alone,  _ here, _ with no one to rely on-- the only sea witch in the whole town, how was I supposed to--”

“Mommy,” Eddie said softly, anger evaporating. He hated that he was falling for it, feeling guilty, but how was he supposed to respond to something like that? She was right, she didn’t have anyone except him, and then he’d left-- she must have felt so lonely. “I…”

“I know you were upset,” his mom interrupted, which was alright, because he had no idea what he was going to say next. “But, Eddie, I’m your  _ mom. _ You’re my baby, and I love you more than anything. There’s so many people out there that want to take advantage of people like us, and that’s the most terrifying thing for me--” she cut off with a sob. “I’m trying to protect you.”

Eddie could feel tears stinging in his own eyes, and he hated himself for it. Even after everything, he wanted to fall back into her arms and say he was sorry, and she would soothe him, and everything would go back to the way it was before. Instead, he drew a shaky breath, and tried to speak without crying.

“Is that why you sent a storm after me?”

She stilled. “A storm?”

“Don’t try to pretend you didn’t,” Eddie said, voice cracking. “If you were really trying to protect me, why would you--” he cut off, taking a shaky breath. “I don’t understand you. I don’t get how you could love me and hurt me at the same time.”

“Hurt you?” his mother echoed, sounding strained. “ _ Hurt _ you?” Her voice rose, and Eddie could feel magic prickling over his skin. He drifted backward, just a bit.

“Everything I’ve ever done has been for you!” she cried. “I gave up so much for you-- and this is how-- you  _ accuse-- _ ”

“I’m just telling the truth,” Eddie said, voice shaky. A large part of him didn’t want to speak at all. She was more powerful than him, and in this state, he didn’t know what she might do. But he’d caved to her before. He had to do this, before he could back out.

“The  _ truth, _ ” his mom spat. “ The  _ truth. _ Really? It’s fine.” she threw her hands in the air. “It’s fine!” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. She waved the tears away from her face somewhat hysterically. “You’re young, you make mistakes. Sooner or later you’ll realize that your silly old mom was right all along. But until then, I need to know that you’re safe.”

“Mom, I can protect myself,” Eddie said, an edge gaining to his voice. “I’ve  _ always-- _ ”

“No,” she said. “I don’t want to hear it. Not after what you did.” She moved out of the entrance of the cave, as if making way for something. It was dark inside, darker than normal, or maybe that was just his own despair. “I can’t protect you, Eddie. But I love you. So I found someone that can.”

As Eddie watched, something started moving in the cave. Something with bright biofluorescent markings across its body, glowing red and bright white. Almost…  _ scuttling. _

It emerged from the cave, all scuttling legs and a bright face marked with red glowing strips, stretched as if the thing was smiling. Something about the way it smiled was wrong, too wrong, and Eddie drew back instinctively.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Eds,” the thing said in a play-saccharine voice. It drank in Eddie’s form as if eyeing its next meal. “Don’t you want to be a good boy for your mommy?”

Eddie’s eyes flicked to his mom. She was watching, dispassionate but content. In control again. “Mommy--” he began.

The thing was moving, opening its mouth. It wasn’t a normal mouth, though, and Eddie stared, horrified but transfixed, as its mouth opened along the glowing red marks, opening up to show a flower-face full of teeth. And in the center, three bright white lights, calling to him.

And everything faded away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaand we're back.  
> I hope this all made sense, I tried to describe what I'm imagining for Pennywise in this AU, but it's hard to do that in a concise and natural way that doesn't break up the flow of the story. If it wasn't clear, I imagine him to be kind of like... Tamatoa, from Moana, when it gets dark and he gets all glowy? But more of a spider form instead of a crab. So the red markings on his face glow and probably he has glowing marks all over his body as well.  
> The next chapter might take a bit because I'm pretty busy this next week, but don't worry, it won't be another hiatus :) we're in the home stretch now


	9. Lucky Seven

“Eddie’s in trouble?” 

Stan moved to crouch down at the edge of the ocean, next to Richie. Richie didn’t look, staring fixed at the mermaids.  _ Eddie’s in trouble Eddie’s in trouble Eddie’s in trouble Eddie’s in trouble Eddie’s in trouble. _

Bev frowned at him. “Yeah,” she said. “We just-- look. Eddie cares about you, so we thought you ought to know. Because I know he was planning on coming back here sometime. He’s not avoiding you.”

“What kind of trouble,” Richie said.

Bev traded a glance with Ben and Bill. “We just said we don’t know the specifics,” she said. “Look, whatever it is, we can deal with it, but--”

“No,” Richie said. “No way. I want to help.”

Bev frowned at him. “You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Humans can’t even breathe underwater.”

Richie frowned. She had a point, but… “I’ll figure something out. I’ll… I’ll steal a scuba suit.”

The mermaids glanced at each other. “I… don’t know what that is,” Bev started.

“Helps humans breathe underwater,” Stan interjected. Bev sighed.

“I tuh-told you this would happen,” the mermaid on Bev’s right said, pulling a bag off his shoulders and starting to dig in it. Bev sighed.

“You did, didn’t you,” she said, sounding tired. “Alright, fine.”

“Fine?” Richie said.

The right-hand mermaid held out a handful of twine. “Put these around your necks,” he said.

“Um, what?” Mike said.

“You’ll be able to breathe underwater,” Bev said. “But only for twenty-four hours. Eddie made them. He was gonna use them for some more complicated spell, but...”

Richie took a circle of twine. It was nothing fancy, just a necklace-sized piece of rope with nothing more on it than a knot at one end. It looked kind of scratchy to wear. Still, he could imagine Eddie tying it, doing his magic thing and making it so much more than that.

“Are you coming?” Bev said. “Because if you are, we’re leaving now.”

“I’m coming,” Richie said. His mind was made up. Even if it was dangerous, Eddie was already there. Richie wasn’t just going to abandon him.

He glanced at Stan and Mike. “You guys don’t have to come,” he said. “If you don’t have to.”

“Of course we’re coming,” Mike said without missing a beat. “We do this together, Rich.”

Stan looked more worried, glancing between Richie and the mermaids. “I-- yeah, I’m coming,” he said finally. “You guys are my friends.” he gave them a hesitant smile. “Someone has to make sure you don’t die.”

* * *

Floating.

Eddie was  _ floating, _ or maybe falling. Maybe both.

_ It’ll be okay, Eddie, _ his mom was saying, and he wanted to cry at the wrongness of it, but he was so scared, scared of what she might do--

_ \--still my little girl?  _ A voice echoed in his mind, and a second voice, timid,  _ yes daddy of course, _ and Eddie wanted to cry, that voice shouldn’t be timid, that was  _ wrong. _

Only dead fish float. Was he dead? He was  _ feeling _ too much to be dead, surely. Too much feeling, weighing him down, keeping him alive or maybe killing him he wasn’t sure--

_ Shhh, _ a voice whispered to him, a voice that made his skin prickle.  _ Just float quietly, no need to think. _

And there was no need to think, was there? The dreaded voice was right, so right, and Eddie sunk deeper into the anxious visions.

_ Floating. _

Eddie was  _ floating. _

* * *

Beverly’s tail glided and rippled in the water like an expensive dress. Richie was trying his best not to kick it accidentally.

She was holding his arm, tugging him along, because apparently you were able to swim faster when you had fins and a tail instead of legs. Who would have thought. For Richie, the whole ‘being underwater’ thing was foreign, the taste of salt on his tongue and in his lungs strange and uncomfortable. He kept feeling like he couldn’t breathe before realizing he could, as if the air was thin and weak.

Anyway, Bill was helping Mike and Ben was helping Stan. Richie would have felt a little offended if it were different circumstances-- that is, if he didn’t only have twenty-four hours to save Eddie from some… white faced demon thing, if Beverly’s description was right. As it was, he was only a little uncomfortable with being towed along like a sack of potatoes. The rest of him was taken up with being worried about Eddie and being uncomfortable with Beverly.

Eddie had always talked about how nice and amazing and strong Beverly was. Right now… well, she was more tense than anything, like a bowstring about to snap. 

“So…” Richie started, glancing around the ocean as if a conversation topic might pop up out of nowhere. “How do you know where to find Eddie, anyway?”

Bev spared him a small glance. “Magic,” she said tersely.

For a moment, it didn’t seem like she was going to continue. Richie decided not to press, because obviously she didn’t want to talk about it, but then she started speaking again.

“I have visions,” she said. “Recently. I did a thing to try and find Eddie, since he was missing, and it had… side effects. That’s how I knew he was with you,” she added, eyes flicking over to him briefly.

Something squirmed inside him. “So you saw… what, everything?”

Bev snorted. “No.” she gave him an appraising look. “Why, is there something you’re hiding?”

“No-- no,” Richie said quickly. “Not like that, I just--”

“Relax,” Bev said. “I’m messing with you.” She cracked a smile and went back to swimming.

Richie bit the inside of his cheek. “You know I wouldn’t do anything to Eddie.”

“I don’t really know you at all, actually,” Bev said lightly. Richie stopped, hearing the unsaid warning to not push too hard. For a moment it was silent, the only noise from the quiet rush of the current in his ears.

Bev sighed. “Look, you seem like a good person,” she said. “And I trust Eddie’s judgment besides.”

Richie frowned. “But?”

Bev hesitated. “Just… think about it from my perspective, okay? My best friend for years suddenly disappears. And then, after I spend  _ forever _ searching for him, he comes back and now he has a boyfriend. Who’s a human. No offense,” she added hastily.

“Uh, none taken, I think?”

“Just… and I’m really happy for him because I know his home life isn’t… great,” she said, glancing away. “But that’s just such a dangerous position for him to be in. And I don’t want anything to happen to him. And then something happens, of  _ course. _ And then even after all this is over I don’t know whether I’m ever going to see him again,” she rushed out.

Richie blinked in surprise. “Why would you never see him again?”

Bev scoffed. “Richie, his mom won’t let him have a human boyfriend. He’s either going to leave Pela’sogles or break up with you, and he’s not going to break up with you.”

“Well…” Richie fingered the twine around his neck uncomfortably. He didn’t want to suggest that Eddie might break up with him, but other than that he wasn’t sure how to comfort her. “I don’t think Eddie would leave you behind, either,” he said lamely.

“He really cares about you, Richie,” Bev said softly. “And I’m really happy for him.” Her voice cracked in the middle of her sentence.

Richie bit his lip. “He cares about you too,” he said. “Eddie… I mean, he talked about you a lot. When he was with us. He was always so worried about you.”

“Worried?”

“Yeah, because he was gone,” Richie said. “And he was so guilty about it, like, ‘she must be worried sick and I left her alone and Bill’s there but he’s always watching his brother--’ or something like that. I don’t think he’d willingly do that to you again. He cares too much, it’d crush him.”

Bev laughed sadly. “His greatest weakness,” she said.

“But the best thing about him,” Richie added, shooting her a smile. Bev smiled back. “Yeah.”

Then Bev looked ahead, and her smile faded. “Oh,” she said.

“What?” Richie searched the waters, but he didn’t see whatever she did.

“I recognize this place,” she said, slowing to a stop. “Guys! We’re here.”

* * *

The  _ place _ in question turned out to be a small opening in the ground that widened out into a giant cavern, dark but with dull glimmering coming from the walls and from a giant pile of stuff in the middle of the room, shells and swords and other things that Richie couldn’t name.

They were hushed, like this was some kind of church or temple. Or, not exactly like that. Richie had been to church before, with his parents, and church was warmer than this. More inviting. This place had a sense of dread, death reverberating around them like the rumble of a monster’s chest.

“Guys,” Mike broke the silence with a whisper. Richie glanced over at him. He was staring up with wide eyes.

Richie followed his gaze, and his breath caught. Mermaids, floating in the inky dark, high up above them. And closer to the ground but still above their heads, Eddie’s signature pink glow lit up the dark and sparkled across the walls.

Richie pushed up off the ground, swimming towards him. After only a few paces Bev grabbed his arm and started pulling him up, faster than before. The others followed along with him, and they reached Eddie at the same time, staring with wide eyes.

Eddie’s eyes were open, but he wasn’t seeing. They were washed-out, almost white, and he was staring up at nothing, hanging there as if from a noose.

“Eddie,” Richie said. Louder, “ _ Eddie. _ ” He grasped Eddie by the shoulders and shook him, but Eddie didn’t move. Richie looked to the other mermaids. “What’s wrong with him, why isn’t he waking up?”

“I-- I don’t-- I’ve never seen something like this,” Bev said, not tearing her gaze from Eddie’s face.

“Is he…” Stan trailed off.

“No,” Richie said. “No, he wouldn’t-- he can’t be--”

“Maybe try kissing him?” Ben said. 

Richie gave him a look.  _ What? _

Ben turned red and shrugged sheepishly. “It works in the stories.”

“Okay,” Richie said, glancing back at Eddie’s blank face. He took a deep breath. “Okay.” Before he could back out, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Eddie’s, then pulled away just as quick. It felt weird to be kissing an unconscious person. 

For one long, terrible moment, nothing happened.

Then Eddie gasped and his eyes cleared, color filling in. He blinked, wide eyed, at Richie and then at the others. “What…”

His voice was soft, but just like Richie remembered it. He felt something breaking in his chest, warm relief pooling in.

“Jesus,” Richie said, a grin breaking out across his face. He pulled Eddie close, squeezing him tight. “You’re okay.”

Arms wrapped around him as Beverly, then the others, joined in on the hug. For a moment everything was fine, drifting down to the seafloor and holding onto each other tight.

Eddie squirmed in the center. “Um, it’s nice to see you too,” he said. “But I can’t breathe.”

They broke apart. Eddie was beaming at Richie, and Richie could feel himself melting. “You came.”

“You thought I wouldn’t? Jeez, Spaghetti, give me some credit.”

Eddie laughed, bright and clear. “We’re underwater,” he said, gaze drifting to the rest of the group. “How did… how?”

“Your spells,” Bev said, miming a rope circle around her neck. “And some other stuff from your bag, to help us speak human.”

Eddie opened his mouth to speak again, but a voice rang out in the chamber, and all of them froze.

“Oh, this is so  _ sweet. _ ”

The voice was sugary and high-pitched, like someone speaking to a very small child. Richie turned to see a spider-like thing scuttling across the pile of stuff in the middle of the room. Markings across its face and body glowed bright and sinister in the gloom. He didn’t have to think to know that this was the thing Beverly had warned them about, the thing that had taken Eddie.

“All back together again,” It continued.

“Lucky seven,” Eddie breathed behind Richie, so soft he barely heard.

“Some of you haven’t met me yet, have you?” It said. “Well, I’m Pennywise. And of course I know  _ your _ names. Bevvy, Stan, Billy, Richie, Mike, Benny--” It grinned, wide and slow. “Nice to meetcha.”

Eddie whispered something behind Richie. A glowing circle closed around them, buzzing with Eddie’s signature magic. The spider crawled closer, grinning at them from the outside.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Eddiekins,” Pennywise said. “Don’t you wanna be a good boy for your mommy? She’s doing all this for you, you know. You don’t wanna let her down, do you? She’ll be so upset with you.”

Richie glanced back at Eddie. He was shrinking in on himself as if he was about to cry, but his voice was loud and clear, even as it shook. “I won’t let you hurt my friends.”

Richie took Eddie’s hand, and Eddie sent him a small smile.

Pennywise’s smile dropped, and he stared at them blankly, almost hungrily. “Oh, well that’s too bad,” he said.

And then he was growing, bigger and bigger, until he was towering over their little bubble. He leaned down close, giant face staring in at them like a person staring into a fishbowl.

“Now we get to play a game.”

* * *

Eddie stared into those glowing yellow eyes. The static buzzing of his magic seemed to pulse and overflow within him, leaving him frozen. He felt cold, save for the hand that was holding Richie’s.  _ My magic won’t hold up against his, _ he realized with a chilling certainty. He had more markings. Compared to his, Eddie’s magic was barely anything.

Nobody moved.

One of It’s spiked legs came crashing down, cracking and shattering the shield. Eddie felt the crack in his chest, and he dove away. There was yelling from the others. Sand drifted up in a cloud where Its leg had hit the ground.

“Scatter!” Someone-- maybe Bill? --yelled. Pennywise pulled back its arm and lunged forward, trampling the ground where their bubble had just been. Eddie darted away, around the pile in the center of the room, and peeked out from around it, scanning for the others.

He could see a shadow of Bev moving, swimming up-- and then maybe that was one of the humans, in the cloud of sand? It looked like a silhouette with legs, at least.

He turned around, pressed up against the pile of junk, and tried to think. Okay. Okay.  _ Okay. _ He needed to… he could use magic.  _ Right. _ But what would he…

A creaking, groaning noise sounded from above, and he looked up. There was a giant, monstrous appendage above him, wrapped around the tower of junk and pulling.

He darted away just in time to not get crushed by a waterlogged couch. Stuff was falling from above, and he dodged between them, searching for someplace safe to hide. It was getting harder to see, water clouding with sand from the falling objects. He squinted, sand stinging his eyes.

Something heavy crashed down on top of his tail, and he yelped in surprise as pain shot through his fins. He twisted around to push it off of him-- it was some big human-looking thing, like a small table with drawers in it. He’d seen them on boats before.

He pushed at the thing, but he couldn’t get any leverage from his awkward angle. He twisted around to search the clouded waters for help.

“Eddie, sweetheart!” A voice called out, and a chill ran down his spine. He squinted, making out the lurking silhouette of his mother drawing nearer.

“Oh, sweetie, what are you  _ doing? _ ” She shrieked, emerging from the fog.

“Mom?” Eddie said, too shell-shocked to say anything else.

“See, this is what I was afraid of, Eddie,” she said, sniffling. “I’ll get that off of you, and then we can go home together, okay?”

“What?” Eddie said. “No. No, mom, I’m not--” She was moving forward, bracing herself against the big wooden thing. He flailed his tail uselessly, trying to pull away from her. Just being near her… “Mom, stop!”

“Hey!” A voice shouted from above them both. Eddie looked up-- there was Richie, floating above them. “Pick on someone your own size, you fucking clown!” he yelled. Eddie thought he’d never been more beautiful.

Eddie’s mom growled, and then started to change-- her eyes yellow instead of blue, face full of too many sharp teeth, tail morphing into spindly legs. Eddie shrank back, willing himself to blend into the sand.

A sharp rock hit Pennywise in the head. “Over here, dumbass!” Beverly called. Pennywise looked between the three of them, indecisive, then growled and scuttled after Bev and Richie. Eddie followed them with his eyes until he couldn’t anymore, until they’d disappeared into the cloud of sand.

He had to follow them. Had to help them… he looked back at the thing pinning him to the ground. He couldn’t move it, but maybe he could move the sand.

He wriggled in place, scooping sand from underneath himself with his hands and trying to push the sand away with his tail. From around him, he could hear his friends’ shouts and exclamations, punctuated with Pennywise’s breathy, high-pitched voice.  _ Hurry hurry hurry. _

There was a spear-looking thing next to him. He stretched out his arm and grabbed it, wedging it underneath the heavy thing and pulling. It lifted up-- just a few inches, but enough that he could pull his tail free.  _ Finally. _

He tugged the spear out after him, looking to where Pennywise was crawling after his friends. They were playing divide and conquer, distracting it whenever it got too close to someone else, but that wouldn’t work forever. They needed… they needed weapons.

Eddie clutched the spear tight.

Bev was a better shot than him. Bev was all the way across the chamber, somewhere in the sandy cloud. If he was going to do this, he had to do it  _ now. _

“Gods help me,” he whispered, half-spell and half-plea. He took aim, angling the spear to line up with the monster scuttling around the middle of the room. 

Aim for the head.

And throw.

The spear shot through the water, straight for Its head, and met its mark with a bloody spurt that clouded in the water. Mike, who had been distracting Pennywise, darted away behind a stalagmite. 

Eddie pumped his fist. “Yes!” He glanced around, taking inventory of where his friends were.

“You!” Pennywise wailed, pushing through the cloud of blood. His face was distorted and the spear was sticking out of his skin, but he was still going, still going, and Eddie’s joy evaporated, replaced by stirrings of dread as fast as he could blink. That hadn’t killed it. That should have killed it, why didn’t that kill it?

_ You’re not going to beat it, _ a voice like his mom’s whispered inside him.  _ Why did you ever think you could do this? Why did you try to do anything? _

“Shut  _ up, _ ” he said out loud, rage swelling in his chest.

This was how Pennywise wanted him to feel, small and sick and afraid. He was so  _ sick  _ and _ tired _ of people wanting him to feel small, and he wasn’t going to freeze up just because someone thought he couldn’t do something. Not when his friends’ lives were on the line. Not when they would do the same thing for him.

“I,” he said. Too soft at first, and raised his voice. “I’m going to  _ fucking kill you! _ ”

Magic pulled a heavy metal box out of the water, pounding in Eddie’s head. He ignored the burning exhaustion of the spell and sent it flying towards Pennywise, as hard as he could. It knocked into one of his spindly legs, scraping across it before falling to the seafloor. Eddie lifted more debris, focusing in on the monster’s head.

Pennywise  _ screeched, _ and his mouth started to open again--  _ really _ open, all the way, glowing harshly in the back. Eddie looked away and flung the debris without looking.

There was the deadly  _ thump  _ of legs crawling across the seafloor, and Eddie peeked back. A leg was shooting straight towards him, in the background someone was screaming, and then he was swept away.

Sand clouded his vision as the waters churned, suddenly much stronger than they were before. 

_ Oh my God, what just happened? _

The currents tossed him back and forth, grains of sand pinging against his scales and skin. It was overwhelming, and Eddie almost missed the humming of magic that went along with it, vibrating deep through the water. It was too charged to be his mom’s, but it felt different than Pennywise’s. He squinted against the grit, kicking his tail hard. It didn’t help much.

“Selene-Hecate-help-your-faithful-child,” he rushed out, putting his arms up in a shield formation. A shield flickered up around him, then just as quickly fizzled out. Eddie didn’t have time to panic before a powerful wave tossed him to the side, and he slammed into the sandy ground.

Everything was still.

“Eddie?” a familiar voice said. A hand grabbed his arm and pulled him up. “Are you okay?” Richie said, his hand lingering on Eddie’s arm.

“I’m fine,” Eddie said, a little breathlessly. He smiled at Richie weakly, brain still processing everything that had just happened. If that current hadn’t come and swept him away, he’d be a monster shish kebab right now.

_ I just almost died, _ Eddie realized a little hysterically. For some reason, he wasn’t as freaked out as he thought he’d be. Maybe he was used to it by now. Or maybe he’d just hit his fear capacity for the day.

He looked around.

They were in a dome, along with Bev, Ben, Bill, Stan, and Mike. It wasn’t a shield like Eddie had tried to make. It was just… clear water, and above them sand and rocks swirled.

_ Your magic will not work against mine. _

They tensed, looking around for the source of the voice. It was deep and musical, like whale song that reverberated all around them. Eddie could feel the vibrations in his chest.

_ Don’t be afraid, _ the voice said.  _ I’m not here to hurt you. _

“What the  _ fuck, _ ” Richie whispered.

“Who are you?” Beverly called out.

_ You know me as Maturin, _ the voice said.  _ The turtle. _

Eddie gaped as the water cleared around them, sand falling to the seafloor. In the cloudy waters, he could see a figure floating above them-- a giant sea turtle that looked like it was made of stars.

“But that’s not--” Eddie said softly. He didn’t bother finishing his sentence. Of course it was possible, wasn’t it? For some inexplicable reason, he felt calm, and completely certain that it was the truth. Of course it was possible.

“Um, sorry, who?” Stan said. Eddie glanced over at him-- his eyes were wide.

_ Maturin, _ Maturin said again.  _ I watch all things, and when I can, I help. _

“That doesn’t explain anything,” Stan muttered, but Maturin didn’t answer. He floated down closer to them, examining them all.

_ Even in impossible circumstances, you find your way to each other, _ Maturin said. He seemed… amused, maybe, or caring. Fond.  _ Every time. You seven are meant to be together. _

“What?” Richie said. “What are you talking about?”

_ The way of things, _ Maturin said.  _ It’s complicated, sometimes even for me. I couldn’t help you so many times.  _

Eddie glanced at the others, wondering if they’d picked up on something he hadn’t, but they looked just as confused as he felt.

_ I will help you this time. A gift, after all your struggles. _

“Wait,” Eddie said. “What does that--”

  
  
  
  
  


Eddie woke up on a beach.

He blinked up at the blue sky, cloudless and calm. “What the  _ fuck, _ ” he said aloud.

Nobody answered him.

He could feel the tide pushing against his tail, half-in the water and half out, and the sand scratching against his back.  _ Deja vu, _ he thought blearily, blinking a few times to wake up fully.

The memories came rushing back to him full force. The cave, and his friends, and Maturin. He pushed himself up, staring around the beach with wide eyes.

They were all there. Richie, and Bev, and Mike and Stan and Bill and Ben. Most of them were blinking awake, just like he was. Stan was already sitting up, staring at nothing with wide eyes.

“What the fuck just happened,” Stan breathed, turning his eyes to Eddie. As if he had the answers. Eddie made a strangled noise and shook his head, shrugging.

“Are we on Hammond Beach?” Richie said, squinting his eyes up at the sun.

“Yup,” Mike said, pushing himself up and looking around. “So, does anybody know what’s going on, or…?”

“No clue,” Eddie said. Ben and Bill echoed him.

“Oh my God,” Bev said. Eddie turned to face her-- she was further up the beach, staring wide-eyed down at her tail. Except… no. Where her tail had been was a pair of smooth human legs, covered by a white skirt that vaguely resembled her tail.

“Holy  _ shit, _ ” Eddie breathed. He whirled around to check his own tail-- it was still there, tide water washing over it. He turned back to stare at Bev. “What the fuck? How…” he didn’t know how to finish the sentence.

“A gift,” Mike said dazedly. He was staring at her too-- everyone was. “That’s what the turtle said. He’d give us a gift.”

“But…” Eddie trailed off.  _ Why Bev, _ was what he wanted to say, but it sounded whiny even in his head. This was a good thing. She could get away from her dad.

Still. He didn’t want to whine to Maturin of all people, but…

“You’re still in the water,” Bev said suddenly, snapping Eddie out of his reverie. She sat forward, not moving her new legs. “Somebody pull him out of the water, see if he gets legs.”

Her voice was commanding and firm. Mike and Richie scrambled to grab Eddie’s arms, tugging him away out of the tide.

Eddie watched his tail glisten in the sunlight, not daring to move. Nobody else said anything, suspended in time.

“Is it…” Richie said hesitantly. “Is it not going to…”

A tingling rush spread up Eddie’s tail all at once, and he gasped, gripping Richie’s arm tightly. The humming magic from before, the turtle magic, buzzed across his tail and burst into light. Eddie squinted against the sudden brightness, blinking spots out of his vision.

“Oh my god,” he breathed, gripping Richie’s arm harder.

Where there had been his tail was now two smooth, unscaled legs, almost the same color as the sand. He was wearing human clothes, shorts, that were the same green as his tail. He glanced from his legs, to Richie, to his legs again.

Richie’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. “He-- he gave you free shorts,” Richie said.

Eddie snorted, reverie broken. “ _ That’s _ what you have to say about this?”

“Do you think you two could… transform, too?” Mike said. He was staring over at Ben and Bill, still in the water.

“Probably,” Ben murmured. He was still staring at Bev, further up the beach, with a look like awe.

“Help me stand up,” Eddie said in a rush of adrenaline. He turned to Richie. “I wanna try this. Help me stand up.”

Richie’s eyes lit up, and he stood up, grabbing Eddie’s arms again. He hoisted Eddie up.  _ Standing. _

Eddie tried to mimic the way Richie stood on the sand, feet planted firmly on the ground and holding up the rest of his body. It was much more wobbly than swimming, and he gripped Richie’s arm tensely. “Okay. Okay. Okay.”

“This is insane,” Stan said faintly in the background.

Eddie toppled forward. “Whoa-- shit.” Richie grabbed him before he hit the sand. Eddie held on tight, pressed against his chest, trying to figure out how to get his legs back under him. His  _ legs. _

“Oh my God, Eddie,” Richie said. Eddie could feel the vibrations of his chest. He pushed up off Richie, searching his eyes. “What? What is it?”

“You’re  _ short. _ ”

Eddie stared at him, some overwhelming emotion swelling in his chest. Richie was grinning at him, more hesitantly now that Eddie wasn’t talking.

Eddie burst out laughing.

Richie was back to grinning again, but it was a more confused grin than before. “Um, okay?” 

“He’s lost it,” Stan said in the background. “He’s finally snapped, and we’re all going to go down with him.”

“He has not,” Richie said, and Eddie could feel his chest rumbling. “He’s just…”

“I just… can’t believe this is real,” Eddie said, catching his breath. He giggled softly, wiping at his eyes. “Oh my God, this doesn’t feel real.”

Richie squeezed him tighter. “Yeah,” he said. “But it is. All of it.”

“This is real,” Eddie said, grinning up at Richie. Richie grinned back, seeming to know what he meant. Eddie wasn’t even sure what he had meant, or maybe he did but just couldn’t put it into words. It was an overflowing joy, excitement and contentment all at once. It was  _ right. _

“This is real,” Richie agreed.

Everything was okay now. Everything  _ would _ be okay now. Eddie held Richie close, and basked in the warmth of the sun on his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not writing these characters naked okay
> 
> anyway sorry for the delay in chapters but this one is a bit longer if that helps? We've just got the epilogue to go now  
> feedback would be appreciated because I am very concerned with my fight-scene writing ability. or just a comment to say hi is okay too, I love all the comments I get :)  
> Hope you guys are staying safe and that things aren't too stressful right now! and if they are, that they'll get better soon!


	10. Epilogue

The neighbors were talking. 

They had been ever since Eddie arrived.

He’d shown up almost a week ago, when Maggie had gotten home carrying groceries and he was sitting in the kitchen with her son, wearing one of Richie’s shirts and clutching a drawstring bag like his life depended on it.

“This is Eddie,” Richie had said. “He’s my… uh, he doesn’t have anywhere to stay.”

And of course she couldn’t kick him out after that, could she? Especially after she’d dragged the full story out of them, bit by bit. Eddie wasn’t going back to that bitch mother of his, not as long as she had anything to say about it.

For some reason, that put the mermaid thing into perspective. She was handling it and rolling with the punches, because that’s what Richie and Eddie needed from her. And she was the adult. A mature, responsible adult who  _ definitely _ knew what she was doing.

And Eddie was… different, in a way that made sense given that he was a mermaid. He got excited about stuff like toasters and sinks, and had a habit of staring at something a bit too curiously before realizing someone had noticed and looking away. Richie seemed to find it endearing, explaining everything to him in real time. Maggie found it endearing too, to be honest. It wasn’t like the rest of her family wasn’t just as weird. At least, that was how she’d explained it to Went when he’d asked.

He  _ had _ destroyed the propeller on Rob Mitchell’s motorboat the other day, which was an inconvenience. He’d had a couple arguments with Rob already-- something about noise and the environment-- but technically they were zoned for it, so Eddie couldn’t make him do anything. The fact that the motor wouldn’t start a few days later, even though nothing was discernibly wrong with the boat, was a coincidence. That was what Went had told Rob when he came over to their house in a fit, threatening to call the police.

Grown men should really control their anger around teenagers, in Maggie’s opinion, and if Eddie said the boat was bad for the environment she believed him. But she’d still been the reluctant lecturer who had to explain the criminal justice system in America to a very apologetic mermaid.

So, yes. The neighbors were talking.

He went out for swims, dove underwater, and didn’t come up for far too long, they said. He couldn’t explain where he was from or what kind of school he went to or why he was living with the Toziers all of a sudden. The light in his room was on at strange hours of the night, and sweet Mrs. Gershin from a couple houses down swore up and down she saw his eyes glowing once. He acted like he was from another planet, what with how amazed he was with everything.

The latest theory she’d heard from Richie was that Eddie was a criminal from another country running from the law.

“I mean, first off, if he was running from the law he’s doing a terrible job,” Richie had said, perched on the crown of the couch as Maggie sorted laundry. “Plus, that doesn’t explain why we’re helping him. Unless dad’s practice is a coverup for something. That would be a lot of work, though, don’t you think? Eight years for a degree and you blow it on crime like some kind of Batman villain.”

“I don’t think any of the Batman villains are dentists, dear,” Maggie had said, folding another piece of laundry.

“Yuh-huh,” Richie said. “There is. He’s insane and obsessed with the Joker.”

Maggie sighed. “Why do you read those things, again?”

The conversation had been derailed from there into a discussion about the finer points of comic books and the concept of quality as a whole. They were still divided on that point.

Anyway.

Eddie had some friends, too, that were mermaids like him but could turn human on land. There was Beverly, who was staying on Will and Jessica Hanlon’s farm. The other two, Ben and Bill, still lived underwater, but they visited so often there wasn’t much of a difference.

Suffice to say, her life had gotten a whole lot more complicated since Eddie had arrived. She didn’t mind as much as she thought she would-- the controlled chaos was fun. She shared that trait with Went, she supposed. All the better for raising a kid like Richie.

She stepped carefully and quietly, on her way to the kitchen to make coffee. She was only half-awake right now and soon the rest of the house would be up, crowding the kitchen and tripping her up before she could get her morning cup. As much as she liked chaos, she liked it  _ after _ she was coherent, thank you very much.

She paused in the entryway. Eddie was sitting at the kitchen island, stirring the milk around in a bowl of cereal. He froze when he saw her. 

“Uh, hi.”

“You’re up early,” Maggie said, turning to the coffeemaker.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“It seems like you can’t sleep a lot of the time.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, not offering anything more.

Maggie sighed internally. Eddie was like this, some of the time-- when Richie wasn’t around, really. He got nervous and shy, shutting himself off from her awkwardly.

“If you want, we can get you medication for it,” she tried. “There’s lots of stuff that can help with that on land.”

“No thanks,” Eddie said too quickly, then backpedaled. “I mean, thanks. But no, thank you.”

Maggie turned around to study him while the coffee dripped. She smiled slightly on purpose, hoping to seem more amused than analytical. “You’re such a riddle. Are you going to tell me why?”

Eddie hesitated. “You don’t have to,” she added.

He relaxed again, picking at his cereal. “Thanks.”

Maggie removed the coffee pot from the machine. “You don’t have to thank me for every little thing.”

Eddie frowned at her, seeming almost insulted. “Well, you’ve done a lot for me.”

“That’s called common decency. Besides, it’s been fun.”

“Your neighbors are talking about me,” Eddie said, watching her carefully.

“Let them talk,” Maggie said. “Life is too short to care about the opinions of people who don’t know you.”

Eddie gave her a small smile. Maggie sipped her coffee.

“Richie’s really lucky to have you, you know,” Eddie said. “As a mom.”

“Oh, I know,” Maggie said. “Do you think I could get that on record for the next time he complains about cleaning his room?” she lowered her voice, leaning forward conspiratorially. “With you on my side, we’d win him over.”

Eddie snorted. How many times had he laughed with his biological mom, Maggie wondered? She wouldn’t ask, didn’t want to ruin the moment. For now, she counted it as a win, and sipped her coffee.

* * *

The sun hung heavy in the sky, sinking slowly into the ocean and melting into liquid gold on top of the waves. Eddie could hear people talking distantly, on other docks at other houses, but he was safe sitting on the support beam underneath the Tozier’s dock, water lapping against his chest and tail swirling in the murky water below. Nobody could see him from this angle, and even if they could they wouldn’t see his tail. He’d just be that odd boy the Toziers were housing, at it again. He didn’t mind the reputation as much as he once might have.

Beverly surfaced next to him, water rolling off her face and hair. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he said back, unsurprised. “You made it.”

“Mike let me drive to the bay,” she said, hoisting herself up to sit next to him. “I’m getting better at it.”

“What do the other Hanlons think of you using his truck?”

“Oh, they love me,” Bev said, waving a hand in the air. “I’m pretty sure they’d help me get away with murder if I wanted to.”

Despite her flippant attitude, she was glowing in a way Eddie rarely saw in her, though he was seeing it more, now that she’d left her dad to live on land. She was  _ happy. _ They still hadn’t talked, exactly, about what her dad had done to her. But based on what he’d seen in the deadlights, he was completely fine putting that conversation off until she was ready.

“I’m glad,” he said simply, turning back to watch the waves. “What about Ben and Bill?”

“They couldn’t make it tonight,” Bev said. “Georgie duty. They said to say hi, though.”

Ben and Bill were still living underwater, though not in Pela’sogles anymore. They’d moved closer to land, about as close as they could to the Hanlon’s farm without actually being on land. Eddie suspected that the spot was strategic for both of them-- he’d seen the way Ben looked at Bev, and Mike and Bill were getting very close since they’d met. Mike would ask him things about mermaid biology and the ocean, Bill would ask Mike things about land (“for writing research,” apparently, although Eddie had no idea what kind of story that would be). Their parents had been eager enough to move out of Pela’sogles as well, when they heard about Eddie’s mom and the terrible sea monster that had caused a blue hole just outside the town limits.

Bev nudged him with her shoulder. “What about Richie?”

“He’s… he’s good,” Eddie said, glancing away. Now that everything was settling, falling into a new normal, it was like he’d just realized how embarrassing it was to be asked about dating. He liked Richie. Really really liked Richie, but it felt weird to talk about it.

“Are you blushing?” Amusement was written all over Bev’s voice.

Eddie could feel his cheeks burning. “No.”

“Aww, it’s cute,” Bev said. “Don’t be embarrassed. You two are great for each other.”

“He’s thinking of taking a gap year next year,” Eddie said, mostly to change the subject.

“A what?”

“Staying home from school for a year before going to higher education,” Eddie said. “So that when it’s time to go to college, I might be more ‘acclimated to the human world’ and then we can go together.”

“Do you want to?”

“I… I think so,” Eddie said. “It’s weird thinking about it. But it would be fun. You can pick what you learn about, you know. I could learn about human mechanics, or history, or medical stuff… I mean, I don’t know.” He traced his hand through the water, creating ripples. “It’s kind of far away right now.”

Bev hummed. She stared out at the ocean. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

“Have you had any more dreams?”

Eddie glanced over at her. “I’d have told you if they stopped.”

“I know,” Bev said.

They shared a look, a familiar kind of look like the one they used to share when talking about parents but was now saved for talks like these. Eddie and Bev were the only ones having weird dreams like this, something about the deadlights and the volcanic vents that no one else could understand. He wasn’t sure he could ever put it in words, but Bev understood what he meant.

“I’m not sure if they mean anything anymore,” Eddie said. “They just feel like… snippets.”

“I know what you mean,” Bev said. “But it was snippets that told me where to find you.”

“And it’s  _ over now, _ Bev,” Eddie said, swishing his tail hard under the water. “Things are normal.”

Bev sighed next to him. “I know,” she said. “It’s just… you know.”

“It’s hard,” Eddie said. He bit his lip, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder. “Look. If something comes up in the dreams, we’ll know. And we’ll stop whatever it is then. But right now, things are  _ okay. _ For maybe the first time ever.”

Bev smiled. “Yeah,” she said, then more emphatically, “Yeah. I just want to be prepared, you know?”

“There’s nothing to be prepared for,” Eddie said. “We’re gonna go to college, you can get a career in human clothes and I can figure out how cars work. Me and Richie are gonna go on human dates and once you and Ben finally figure things out we can do a double date. Or a triple date with Stan and Patty. And we’ll get a house together and split the rent.”

Bev gave him a weird look. Eddie made a face at him.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Bev said. “Just-- you’ve never talked like that before.”

“Like what?”

“About the future and stuff. I dunno, you always just talked about how your mom wouldn’t let you do anything.”

Eddie looked away. “Well, it’s like I said. Things are different now.”

Bev was quiet. “Still,” she said. “I’m happy for you, you know that?”

The soft tide lapped against him, calm and steady. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m happy for you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that was a short little chapter, but I hope it wrapped things up nicely for you guys.
> 
> Thank you so much for the incredible support you've all given me on this story. I was absolutely not expecting the response it got, and it makes me so happy to know that other people enjoy this AU as much as I do. Honestly not sure how to express it, but thank you.

**Author's Note:**

> if you leave a comment I will reply and gush about it and also hold it in my heart forever


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